Goodness, unity, and creation in the platonic tradition / Lloyd P. Gerson -- The question of being, non-being and "creation ex nihilo" in Chinese philosophy / May Sim -- The ultimate why question : Avicenna on why God is absolutely necessary / Jon McGinnis -- Thomas Aquinas on the ultimate why question : why is there anything at all rather than nothing whatsoever? / John F. Wippel -- Causa sui and created truth in Descartes / Tad M. Schmaltz -- Being and being grounded / Daniel O. Dahlstrom -- Why is there anything at all rather than absolutely nothing? : F.W.J. Schelling's answer to the ultimate why question / Holger Zaborowski -- The ultimate why question : the Hegelian option / Edward C. Halper -- Some contemporary theories of divine creation / Robert Cummings Neville -- Pragmatic reflections on final causality / Brian Martine -- Optimalism and the rationality of the real : on the prospects of axiological explanation / Nicholas Rescher