March 10, 2014

This Post is Old!

The post you are reading is years old and may not represent my current views. I started blogging around the time I first began to study philosophy, age 17. In my view, the point of philosophy is to expose our beliefs to rational scrutiny so we can revise them and get better beliefs that are more likely to be true. That's what I've been up to all these years, and this blog has been part of that process. For my latest thoughts, please see the front page.

The Puzzle of Existence: Concluding Thoughts and Table of Posts

I have now completed my series of posts on The Puzzle of Existence. I'll conclude by saying that I enjoyed most of the essays in this book quite a lot, and found them interesting food for thought. Further reflection on the points raised by the various authors stands to enrich metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and the theory of explanation. Additionally, most of the essays are quite accessible for non-specialists, including advanced undergraduate students. Assuming that a less expensive paperback version becomes available, this book would be a great choice for graduate or advanced undergraduate courses covering explanation in metaphysics, the argument from contingency from the existence of God, or the theory of modality.

Here is a list of my 16 blog posts, corresponding to the 16 chapters of the book:

  1. Introducing The Puzzle of Existence (Goldschmidt)

  2. O'Connor on Explaining Everything

  3. Oppy on Theism, Naturalism, and Explanation

  4. Kleinschmidt on the Principle of Sufficient Reason

  5. Jacob Ross on the PSR

  6. Christopher Hughes on Contingency and Plurality

  7. Conee on the Ontological Argument

  8. John Leslie's Axiarchism

  9. How to Determine Whether there Might have Been Nothing (Efird and Stoneham)

  10. Why do We Ask Why? (Heil)

  11. Lowe on Metaphysical Nihilism

  12. Rodriguez-Pereyra on Ontological Subtraction

  13. Kotzen on the Improbability of Nothing

  14. Lange on the Natural Necessity of Something

  15. Maitzen on the Explanatory Power of Penguins

  16. McDaniel's Ontological Pluralism

(Cross-posted at The Prosblogion.)

Posted by Kenny at March 10, 2014 2:19 PM
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