Theism and ultimate explanation: the necessary shape of contingency

An expansive, yet succinct, analysis of the Philosophy of Religion - from metaphysics through theology. Organized into two sections, the text first examines truths concerning what is possible and what is necessary. These chapters laythe foundation for the book€™s second part - the search for a metaphysical framework that permits the possibility of an ultimate explanation that is correct and complete.A cutting-edge scholarly work which engages with the traditional metaphysician€™s quest for a true ultimate explanation of the most general features of the world we inhabitDevelops an original view concerning the epistemology and metaphysics of modality, or truths concerning what is possible or necessaryApplies this framework to a re-examination of the cosmological argument for theismDefends a novel version of the Leibnizian cosmological argument INDICE: Preface ixPart I The Explanatory Role of Necessity 11. Modality and Explanation 3Relative and Absolute Necessity 3Scientifi cally Established Necessities 5An Epistemological Worry about Modality: Causal Contact with Modal Facts 7Modal Nihilism 10Modal Reductionism and Defl ationism 15Modal Anti-Realism and Quasi-Realism 27Conclusion 302. Modal Knowledge 32Conceivability As Our Guide? 32Modality a Matter of Principle? 36The Theoretical Roles of Modal Claims: Towards a Modal Epistemology 41The Spheres of Possibility 60Part II The Necessary Shape of Contingency 633. Ultimate Explanation and Necessary Being: The Existence Stage of the Cosmological Argument 65Necessary Being 68Two Objections to the Traditional Answer 73Necessary Being As the Explanatory Ground ofContingency? 794. The Identifi cation Stage 86From Necessary Being to God, I:Transcendent, Not Immanent 86Two Models of Transcendent Necessary Being: Logos and Chaos 93Varieties of Chaos 93Interlude: The Fine-Tuning Argument 97From Necessary Being to God, II: Logos, Not Random Chaos 1095. The Scope of Contingency 111How Many Universes Would Perfection Realize? 111Perfection and Freedom121Some Applications of the Many-Universe-Creation Hypothesis 122Necessary Being and the Scope of Possibility 125Necessary Being and the Many Necessary Truths 1286. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Anselm? 130The Unity of the Divine Nature and Its Consequences 132Natural Theology in the Understanding of RevealedTheology 140Coda 143Notes 145Bibliography 162Index 172

• ISBN: 978-1-4443-4549-0
• Editorial: Wiley-Blackwell
• Encuadernacion: Rústica
• Páginas: 250
• Fecha Publicación: 12/04/2012
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: Inglés