Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing

Zusatztext The question "Why is there something rather than nothing?" is a good candidate for being philosophy's most profound and disturbing question. Is it not a complete and utter mystery that there should be anything at all? That there should be nothing seems prima facie more plausible than that there should be something in view of the greater simplicity and naturalness of nothingness as compared to somethingness. And yet there is something. In this stimulating and well-written book, Oxford philosopher Bede Rundle tries to make likely that the problem of existence does have a reasonably clear solution and, moreover, that this solution is of a distinctively philosophical, as opposed to a physical or theological, kind. . . . a valuable and, as far as I can judge, original contribution to metaphysics as a whole and, above all, a welcome contrast to much recent work of a more speculative nature. Klappentext The question "Why is there something rather than nothing"? has a strong claim to be philosophy's central, and most perplexing, question; it has a capacity to set the head spinning which few other philosophical problems can rival. Bede Rundle challenges the stalemate between theistic and naturalistic explanations with a rigorous, properly philosophical approach, and presents some startlingly novel conclusions. Zusammenfassung Why should there be anything at all? Why, in particular, should a material world exist? The author advances clear, non-technical answers to these perplexing questions. He offers an explanation of fundamental facts of existence in purely philosophical terms, without appeal either to theology or cosmology. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1: Theology and meaning 2: God and explanation 3: Causation and necessity 4: Creation and conservation 5: Essence and existence 6: Matter and abstractions 7: Mind and agency 8: Time and explanation Bibliography Index

Product details

• Authors: Bede Rundle, Bede ( Rundle, Bede (Trinity College Rundle, Rundle Bede
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 05.02.2004
• EAN: 9780199270507
• ISBN: 978-0-19-927050-7
• No. of pages: 216
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Philosophy > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Miscellaneous; PHILOSOPHY / Religious, PHILOSOPHY / Metaphysics, SCIENCE / Time, RELIGION / Philosophy, Philosophy: metaphysics & ontology, Philosophy: metaphysics and ontology, Philosophy of religion, Cosmology & the universe, Cosmology and the universe, SCIENCE / Space Science / Cosmology, Time (chronology), time systems & standards, Time (chronology), time systems and standards