The Ultimate Why Question: Why Is There Nothing at All Rather than Nothing Whatsoever? ultimate why question: why is there anything at all rather than nothing whatsoever?

Acknowledgments

vii Acknowledgments Permission from the respective copyright holders to reprint here the following previously published material is gratefully acknowledged: Nicholas Rescher, “Optimalism and the Rationality of the Real: On the Prospects of Axiological Explanation,” Review of Metaphysics 59 (2006): 503–16, originally delivered as the Presidential Address for the Metaphysical Society of America at its annual meeting in 2005; John F. Wippel , “Thomas Aquinas on the Ultimate Why Question: Why Is There Anything at All Rather than Nothing Whatsoever?” Review of Metaphysics 60 (2007): 731–53, originally delivered as the Presidential Address for the Metaphysical Society of America at its annual meeting in 2006; Robert Cummings Neville, “Some Contemporary Theories of Divine Creation ,” in Robert Cummings Neville, Realism in Religion: A Pragmatist’s Perspective (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2009), c. 12, pp. 191–201, originally delivered at the annual meeting of the Metaphysical Society of America in 2006. I am deeply grateful to all of the authors who have contributed to this book, for it is their efforts that have made it what it is. I would also like to thank my past research assistant, Brandon Zimmermann, who provided valuable assistance in various ways in the preparation of this volume. I must also thank the past director of the Catholic University of America Press, Dr. David McGonagle, for his generous cooperation and collaboration in preparing the volume for publication; Theresa Walker, managing editor of the press, for her able assistance in seeing it through to its publication; Professor and Dean emeritus Jude P. Dougherty, for having accepted it for inclusion in the series Studies in Philosophy and the History of Philosophy; Susan Barnes, for her expert copyediting of the manuscript; Denise E. Carlson for preparing the indices; and finally Professor Thérèse-Anne Druart and my current research assistant, George Walter, for their assistance in proofreading the final text. The Ultimate Why Question ...