Why Does Anything Exist?

1. Asking the Ultimate Question

2. A Puzzle Both Ancient and Modern

3. The Scientific Universe

• The Power of Science
• The Big Bang Theory
• Problems in Contemporary Theories
• The Circularity Problem
• Living in the Scientific Universe

4. The Mathematical Universe

• The Remarkable Nature of Mathematics
• Mathematical Answers to the Puzzle of Existence
• What Are Mathematical Objects?
• Are Mathematical Truths Necessary?
• Living in the Mathematical Universe

5. The Good Universe

• The Distinctiveness of Value-Based Explanations
• The Pervasiveness of Value
• Teleological Arguments and the Fine-Tuning Problem
• Platonic Roots of Value-Based Theories
• Leslie’s Theory of “Ethical Requiredness”
• What Kind of Thing Is Value?
• The Specification Problem
• The Problem of Evil
• Living in the Good Universe

6. The Divine Universe

• Personal Intentions as Explanation
• Ontological Arguments
• Cosmological Arguments
• God as the Best Available Explanation
• Challenges for a Theistic Approach
• Living in the Divine Universe

7. The Lawful Universe

• Nomological Explanation
• Parfit’s “Selector”
• Van Inwagen’s Probabilistic Analysis
• Smith’s “Law of the Simplest Beginning”
• Nozick’s “Assumption of Fecundity”
• Challenges for a Nomological Approach
• Living in the Lawful Universe

8. Is the Question Legitimate?

• Objections to Seeking Reasons for the Totality of Existing Things
• Nāgārjuna’s Madhyamaka Buddhism
• Śaṅkara’s Advaita Vedānta Hinduism

9. Embracing the Inquiry

• Better Understanding the Problem
• Better Understanding Ourselves
• The Puzzle of Existence and the Quest for Meaning