Overview

This groundbreaking volume investigates the most fundamental question of all: Why is there something rather than nothing? The question is explored from diverse and radical perspectives: religious, naturalistic, platonistic and skeptical. Does science answer the question? Or does theology? Does everything need an explanation? Or can there be brute, inexplicable facts? Could there have been nothing whatsoever? Or is there any being that could not have failed to exist? Is the question meaningful after all? The volume advances cutting-edge debates in metaphysics, philosophy of cosmology and philosophy of religion, and will intrigue and challenge readers interested in any of these subjects.

Full Product Details

Author:   Tyron Goldschmidt (University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, USA)
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Volume:   6
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.572kg
ISBN:  

9780415624657

ISBN 10:   0415624657
Pages:   296
Publication Date:   15 May 2013
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

"1. Introduction: Understanding the Question Tyron Goldschmidt 2. Could There Be a Complete Explanation of Everything? Timothy O'Connor 3. Ultimate Naturalistic Causal Explanations Graham Oppy 4. Explanatory Power and the Principle of Sufficient Reason Shieva Kleinschmidt 5. The Principle of Sufficient Reason and the Grand Inexplicable Jacob Ross 6. Contingency, Dependence, and the Ontology of the Many Christopher Hughes 7. Conceiving Absolute Greatness Earl Conee 8. A Proof of God's Reality John Leslie 9. Metaphysical Nihilism Revisited E.J. Lowe 10. Contingency John Heil 11. Methodological Separatism, Modal Pluralism, and Metaphysical Nihilism David Efird and Tom Stoneham 12. The Subtraction Arguments for Metaphysical Nihilism: Compared and Defended Gonzalo Rodriguez-Pereyra 13. The Probabilistic Explanation of Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing Matthew Kotzen 14. Are Some Things Naturally Necessary? Marc Lange 15. Questioning the Question Stephen Maitzen 16. Ontological Pluralism, the Gradation of Being, and the Question ""Why is there Something Rather than Nothing?"" Kris McDaniel"

Reviews

[A] great strength of the volume is how much it has to offer to so many different domains of discourse. Anyone with even a passing interest in cosmological arguments, the PSR, metaphysical nihilism, subtraction arguments, methodology in modality, ultimate explanations, God, the limits and purview of scientific explanations and, of course, the puzzle(s) of existence will find something of value in it. And...it also has something to offer to folks working in areas who may not yet realize that certain of their commitments are tangled up in the puzzle(s) of existence. -Ricki Bliss, Kyoto University, Japan ...this work offers an excellent exercise in abstract philosophical reasoning. Highly recommended. H.C. Byerly, University of Arizona in Choice

Author Information

Tyron Goldschmidt is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Wake Forest University, USA.

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