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The anthropic principle () is the philosophical consideration that observations of the universe must be compatible with the conscious and sapient life that observes it. Some proponents of the anthropic principle reason that it explains why the universe has the age and the fundamental physical constants necessary to accommodate conscious life. As a result, they believe it is unremarkable that the universe's fundamental constants happen to fall within the narrow range thought to be compatible with life.〔( Anthropic Principle )〕〔(James Schombert, Department of Physics at University of Oregon )〕 The strong anthropic principle (SAP) as explained by John D. Barrow and Frank Tipler states that this is all the case because the universe is compelled to eventually have conscious and sapient life emerge within it. Some critics of the SAP argue in favor of a weak anthropic principle (WAP) similar to the one defined by Brandon Carter, which states that the universe's ostensible fine tuning is the result of selection bias: i.e., only in a universe capable of eventually supporting life will there be living beings capable of observing and reflecting upon fine tuning. Most often such arguments draw upon some notion of the multiverse for there to be a statistical population of universes to select from and from which selection bias (our observance of ''only'' this universe, compatible with life) could occur. ==Definition and basis== The principle was formulated as a response to a series of observations that the laws of nature and parameters of the universe take on values that are consistent with conditions for life as we know it rather than a set of values that would not be consistent with life on Earth. The anthropic principle states that this is a necessity, because if life were impossible, no living entity would be there to observe it, and thus would not be known. That is, it must be possible to observe ''some'' universe, and hence, the laws and constants of any such universe must accommodate that possibility. The term ''anthropic'' in "anthropic principle" has been argued〔Mosterín J., (2005), ''Antropic Explanations in Cosmology'', in Hajek, Valdés & Westerstahl (eds.), ''Proceedings of the 12th International Congress of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science''; http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/1658/"〕 to be a misnomer.〔"anthropic" means "of or pertaining to mankind or humans"〕 While singling out our kind of carbon-based life, none of the finely tuned phenomena require human life or some kind of carbon chauvinism.〔(The Anthropic Principle ), Victor J. Stenger〕〔(Anthropic Bias ), Nick Bostrom, p.6〕 Any form of life or any form of heavy atom, stone, star or galaxy would do; nothing specifically human or anthropic is involved. The anthropic principle has given rise to some confusion and controversy, partly because the phrase has been applied to several distinct ideas. All versions of the principle have been accused of discouraging the search for a deeper physical understanding of the universe. The anthropic principle is often criticized for lacking falsifiability and therefore critics of the anthropic principle may point out that the anthropic principle is a non-scientific concept, even though the weak anthropic principle, ''"conditions that are observed in the universe must allow the observer to exist",''〔(Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary )〕 is "easy" to support in mathematics and philosophy, i.e. it is a tautology or truism. However, building a substantive argument based on a tautological foundation is problematic. Stronger variants of the anthropic principle are not tautologies and thus make claims considered controversial by some and that are contingent upon empirical verification.〔(The Strong Anthropic Principle and the Final Anthropic Principle )〕〔(On Knowing, Sagan from Pale Blue Dot )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Anthropic principle」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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