The Mystery of Existence
Why Is There Anything At All?
Published on 9. April 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
328 pages
978-0-470-67355-3 (ISBN)
Description
This compelling study of the origins of all that exists, including explanations of the entire material world, traces the responses of philosophers and scientists to the most elemental and haunting question of all: why is anything here--or anything anywhere? Why is there something rather than nothing? Why not nothing? It includes the thoughts of dozens of luminaries from Plato and Aristotle to Aquinas and Leibniz to modern thinkers such as physicists Stephen Hawking and Steven Weinberg, philosophers Robert Nozick and Derek Parfit, philosophers of religion Alvin Plantinga and Richard Swinburne, and the Dalai Lama.
* The first accessible volume to cover a wide range of possible reasons for the existence of all reality, from over 50 renowned thinkers, including Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes, Leibniz, Hume, Bertrand Russell, Stephen Hawking, Steven Weinberg, Robert Nozick, Derek Parfit, Alvin Plantinga, Richard Swinburne, John Polkinghorne, Paul Davies, and the Dalai Lama
* Features insights by scientists, philosophers, and theologians
* Includes informative and helpful editorial introductions to each section
* Provides a wealth of suggestions for further reading and research
* Presents material that is both comprehensive and comprehensible
Reviews / Votes
"In this deep and thoughtful book, philosopher John Leslie and public sage Robert Lawrence Kuhnorganize, integrate, and reassess past and current ideas about this most compelling of metaphysical questions." (Metapsychology, 13 August 2013) "And now John Leslie and Robert Lawrence Kuhn have published The Mystery of Existence: Why Is There Anything At All?, a very useful anthology of classic and contemporary readings." (First Things, 24 July 2013) "Read the book by all means. It's well written. Inevitably. After all its contributors number the greatest brains known to man. But I think it has been misnamed. The Mystery of Existence. (There really isn't anything to concern us.)." (New Nurturing Potential, 1 July 2013) "I certainly recommend it, but it is not the sort of book you would buy to read in the train." (Magonia Blog, 6 June 2013) "Their book, which I would recommend highly to students, researchers or indeed anyone with a curiosity about or stimulated by these deepest of questions, offers an abundance of suggestions for further reading and research on this inexhaustible topic." (Mysterious Planet, 1 June 2013)More details
Persons
John Leslie is University Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Guelph, Canada, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Well-known in the philosophy of cosmology and religion, he has held visiting professorships at institutions including the Australian National University (Research Department of Philosophy) and the University of Liège (Institute of Astrophysics). He is the author of numerous publications including Value and Existence (Blackwell, 1979), Universes (Routledge, 1989), The End of the World: the Science and Ethics of Human Extinction (Routledge, 1996), Infinite Minds (Oxford University Press, 2001), and Immortality Defended (Blackwell, 2007).
Robert Lawrence Kuhn is a public intellectual and the creator and host of Closer To Truth, the long-running PBS / public television series on science and philosophy. With a doctorate in brain research (UCLA), he is the author or editor of more than 30 books, including Closer To Truth: Challenging Current Belief and Closer To Truth: Science, Meaning and the Future. A recognized expert on Chinese politics and economics, he is the author of The Man Who Changed China: The Life and Legacy of Jiang Zemin (Crown, 2005), China's best-selling book of 2005, and How China's Leaders Think (Wiley, 2011). He is a frequent commentator on the BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, China Central Television (CCTV), and Euronews.
Content
About the Editors vi
Acknowledgments vii
1 General Introduction 1
2 Some Quotations 13
3 Possible Responses to "Why Anything?" 16
4 First Solution: A Blank is Absurd 18
5 Second Solution: No Explanation Needed 41
6 Third Solution: Chance 71
7 Fourth Solution: Value/Perfection as Ultimate 101
8 Fifth Solution: Mind/Consciousness as Ultimate 142
9 Fine-Tuning and Multiple Universes 171
10 The Problem Seems Genuine 211
Bibliography and Further Reading 289
Index of Names 310
Index of Concepts 313