John A. Leslie
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John Andrew Leslie (born August 2, 1940 - ) is a Canadian philosopher. He was educated at Wadham College, Oxford, earning his B.A. in English Literature in 1962 and his M.Litt. in Literae Humaniores (a research degree in Philosophy) in 1968. His interests include the philosophy of science, philosophy of religion, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and ethics. He has written severals books, including Value and Existence (1979), Universes (1989), Physical Cosmology and Philosophy (1990), The End of the World: the Science and Ethics of Human Extinction (1996), and Infinite Minds: a Philosophical Cosmology (2001). He is currently Professor emeriti at the University of Guelph, in Ontario, Canada, where he lives with his wife, Jill.
In his book Universes, Leslie describes a philosophical parable in which an individual survives a firing squad of fifty expert marksmen unscathed. He offers two explanations for this remarkable event: either it is a fortuitous outcome of many thousands of firing squads or it is actually intentional. Francis Collins references this parable in his book The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief to argue that the Anthropic Principle strongly suggests a Creator with intent.
[edit] External Links
- [1], Homepage at University of Guelph.
