On Explaining Existence - Rescher, Nicholas (De Gruyter, 2013)
Table of Contents; Preface; Chapter One. EXISTENCE EXPLANATION AND THE HUME-EDWARDS PRINCIPLE; Chapter Two. THE METAPHYSICS OF POSSIBILITY ACTUALIZATION; Chapter Three. OPTIMALISM AND THE AXIOLOGICAL TURN; Chapter Four. THE PIVOTAL ROLE OF INTELLIGENCE; Chapter Five. DEFENDING OPTIMALISM; Chapter Six. ON THE IMPROVABILITY OF THE WORLD; Chapter Seven. OPTIMALISM AND THEISM; Chapter Eight. ULTIMATE EXPLANATION; NAME INDEX.
No short book on the explanation of existence can afford the hubris of claiming to accomplish this task. And certainly no such claim can be or is being made here. What is at issue is not-and cannot be-an actual explanation. Rather, what is attempted here is at the very most a rough sketch of the conceptual architecture that an adequate explanation can be expected to exhibit. No more is achieved than a rough and general indication of the direction in which a satisfactory explanation can unfold. A vast amount of detail will have to be filled in to provide a tenable explanation. Only the rough sh