Review of 'Purpose in the Universe'. By Tim Mulgan. (Oxford: OUP, 2015. Pp. 448. Price £50.)

Abstract

Tim Mulgan argues against both BT (Benevolent Theism) and atheism, and for AP (Ananthropocentric Purposivism), the thesis of a God (-analogue) who does not care about us human beings. He is agnostic about whether there is literally a God, so we may state AP thus: it is as if there is a God with a good purpose but we do not feature in this purpose. Mulgan's case, from religious ambiguity (p. 9), both supports and is supported by his combination of objectivism in metaethics with a utilitarian normative ethics that attaches great weight to suffering.