Theism and Ultimate Explanation: The Necessary Shape of Contingency [Paperback]

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 lay the foundation for the books 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 metaphysicians quest for a true ultimate explanation of the most general features of the world we inhabit
• Develops an original view concerning the epistemology and metaphysics of modality, or truths concerning what is possible or necessary
• Applies this framework to a re-examination of the cosmological argument for theism
• Defends a novel version of the Leibnizian cosmological argument

Preface ix

Part I The Explanatory Role of Necessity 1

1. Modality and Explanation 3

Relative and Absolute Necessity 3

Scientifically Established Necessities 5

An Epistemological Worry about Modality: Causal Contact with Modal Facts 7

Modal Nihilism 10

Modal Reductionism and Defl ationism 15

Modal Anti-Realism and Quasi-Realism 27

Conclusion 30

2. Modal Knowledge 32

Conceivability As Our Guide? 32

Modality a Matter of Principle? 36

The Theoretical Roles of Modal Claims: Towards a Modal Epistemology 41

The Spheres of Possibility 60

Part II The Necessary Shape of Contingency 63

3. Ultimate Explanation and Necessary Being: The Existence StaglÓ