astronomy

Robin Collins

Robin Collins is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Robin Collins rather than just read about it. In short: Robin Alan Collins is an American philosopher. He serves as the Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and as the chair of the Department of Philosophy at Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

Key takeaways

Robin Collins belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Robin Collins to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Robin Collins from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Robin Alan Collins is an American philosopher. He serves as the Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and as the chair of the Department of Philosophy at Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. His main interests include philosophical issues related to the relationship between religion and science and philosophical theology.

Education Collins obtained two undergraduate degrees from Washington State University in 1984 with a triple major in mathematics, physics, and philosophy, graduating summa cum laude. Collins spent two years in a Ph.D. program in physics at the University of Texas at Austin before transferring to the University of Notre Dame, where he received a Ph.D. in philosophy in 1993. His dissertation was titled "Epistemological Issues in the Scientific Realism/Antirealism Debate: An Analysis and a Proposal." He served as a post-doctoral fellow at Northwestern University's Program in History and Philosophy of Science before joining Messiah College.

Career Collins has taught philosophy at Messiah University since 1994 and is a leading advocate of the Fine-Tuning Argument. Collins was interviewed as a major contributor to The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel. Using his background in both philosophy and physics, he has developed a Fine-Tuning for Discoverability Argument, in which he argues that many scientific constants are fine-tuned to optimize our ability to discover knowledge about the universe.

References

External links Dr. Collins's homepage Archived 2014-03-28 at the Wayback Machine The Case for Cosmic Design by Robin Collins. (Here Collins debates Paul Draper and Quentin Smith regarding whether the structure of the cosmos supports divine creation; it is part of the first online book debating theism and atheism/naturalism, at the leading atheist website infidels.org) Interviews with Collins for PBS program "Closer to Truth"

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Robin Collins

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Robin Collins claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Robin Collins before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Robin Collins ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Robin Collins

In research: Robin Collins appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Robin Collins in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Robin Collins is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 21st-century American Protestant theologians, 21st-century American male writers, American critics of atheism, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Robin Collins outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Robin Collins in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Robin Collins means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Robin Collins out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Robin Collins in simple terms?

Why does Robin Collins matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Robin Collins?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Robin Collins.