Mind, Value, and Cosmos

Mind, Value, and Cosmos: On the Relational Nature of Ultimacy is an investigation into the nature of ultimacy and explanation, particularly as it relates to the status of, and relationship among Mind, Value, and the Cosmos. It draws its stimulus from longstanding “axianoetic” convictions as to the ultimate status of Mind and Value in the western tradition of philosophical theology, and chiefly from the influential modern proposals of A.N. Whitehead, Keith Ward, and John Leslie. What emerges is a relational theory of ultimacy wherein Mind and Value, Possibility and Actuality, God and the World are revealed as “ultimate” only in virtue of their relationality. The ultimacy of relationality—what Whitehead calls “mutual immanence”—uniquely illuminates enduring mysteries surrounding: any and all existence, necessary divine existence, the nature of the possible, and the world as actual. As such, it casts fresh light upon the whence and why of God, the World, and their ultimate presuppositions.

As a work of philosophical theology and process metaphysics, Mind, Value, and Cosmos deserves serious engagement from specialists in these areas of study. Interested general readers will also find much to consider in this intellectually stimulating book. , In this book, Davis provides an excellent example of traditional metaphysics and philosophical theology. It brings intellectual rigour to key questions regarding Ultimate Reality, which according to him is relationality…. This is an outstanding book which all who are interested in questions concerning Mind, Value, Cosmos and God-world relationships should read. Also, it travels along with several thinkers through history which, besides being significant for the context of the book, also serve as a good reminder of their work and thinking. Moreover, Davis offers a fantastic presentation of Leslie´s, Ward´s and Whitehead’s thinking around the questions mentioned above. I can only congratulate Andrew Davis for his outstanding piece of research., "Why is there a cosmos instead of utter emptiness? The answer could be found in connections between a divine mind, its value, the existence of everything. Expert and very readable, this book develops suggestions from Plato, Spinoza, Hegel, Whitehead, and writers of today.", "An outstanding and important defense of an original Process-influenced metaphysics which positively advances philosophical thinking in this area in a very creative way. This book deserves a wide readership.", "It is only rarely that one comes across a work of an author that is brilliant in its argumentation on such fragile and mysterious matters as the ultimate sources of being…The proposed solution of a mutuality of ultimate sources and their interspace of togetherness is a welcome and fresh approach worth considering."

Andrew M. Davis is program director for the Center for Process Studies at Claremont School of Theology at Willamette University.