Purpose Without Theism?
Purpose Without Theism?
Axiarchism and Neoplatonism
This chapter considers the axiarchic account advanced by John Leslie and Hugh Rice. Against axiarchism, it argues that the goodness of a state of affairs is something that cries out for an explanation, rather than being something which can be invoked as the explanation. The chapter then evaluates non-axiarchic Neoplatonism — in which a non-personal power is postulated as the cause of good states of affairs. It argues that such a view would close the ‘explanatory gap’ described in Chapter 2, but not in as satisfying a way as theism.
Keywords: axiarchism, teleological explanation, Rice, Leslie, theism, neoplatonism
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