The +quot;Anthrophic Argument+quot; is a special case of the +quot;Design Argument+quot; (

From: Marty Leipzig                           20 Aug 94  04:23

The "Anthrophic Argument" is a special case of the "Design Argument"
(See: Hume, 1835), entwined with the "Argument from Ignorance" and "the
Argument from Incredible Hubris and Egocentricity". Basically, it states
that the Universe is constructed "Just So" for the evolution (small pun,
there) and existence of humanity. Typical rejoinders such as "If the
magnetic moment was 1 gauss off, life could not exist!" or "If the level
of Oxygen and Nitrogen in the atmosphere was different by 1%, life could
not exist!". Or, "If the planet Earth was not a rather lumpy oblate
spheroid and did not have an inclined, elliptical orbit, life could not
exist!"

And so on and so on...

I'm sure the Hoovooloo find this all very amusing (see: Adams,
D., 1987, et al).

You see, the "Anthropic Argument" proceeds from a false assumption (that
the Universe was "created" just so Terran life could exist (especially
that "paramount" of Terran life: _Man the "wise"_)).  In such extreme
hubris, these clingers to the Anthropic principle see the cosmos as
created to only yield Earthly Man; as Earthly Man is presupposedly the
pinnacle of universal "creation".

But, in reality, if these various geological, cosmological and
ontogenetic constants had indeed differed, the same creatures generated
by _that_ other set of physical constants would perhaps be arguing this
very same argument.  Indeed, _Homo sapiens_ might only be a hallucination
seen by adventurers into the photic zone who actually sampled that
metabolic poison "Oxygen".  Rewind the tape of Earth history, and the 4.5
BY finalŠ most certainly would not be _Homo sapiens_. Now, extrapolate
that to the billions of planets orbiting the trillions of suns in the
quadrillions of galaxies.

Anthropic, indeed.

Finally, a couple of distant rejoinders: 1. "God made rabbits with white
tails to be easier to shoot by man." 2. "A man's nose is in exactly the
correct place for it to support spectacles to correct deficient vision."
3. "The sun rise at precisely the moment day begins". 4. " Whether we
are short or tall, our feet precisely touch the ground."

All proof of God's infinite wisdom and His role in the creation of the
cosmos.