Value and Existence

Leslie's Value and Existence develops a distinctive metaphysical position that grounds existence itself in ethical value. The work argues that goodness possesses an inherent creative efficacy—that ethical requiredness can serve as the ultimate explanation for why anything exists at all. This axiarchic hypothesis, as Leslie terms it, proposes that the universe exists because it is valuable that it should exist.

The argument proceeds through careful analysis of explanatory ultimacy and the principle of sufficient reason. Leslie contends that traditional stopping points for explanation—whether God, physical laws, or brute facts—remain unsatisfactory because they invite further questions about their own existence. By contrast, value as an explanatory principle requires no external ground; if value itself necessitates the existence of valuable states of affairs, this provides a genuinely ultimate explanation that escapes infinite regress.

Leslie addresses the apparent circularity in claiming that value explains its own instantiation. He argues this constitutes not vicious circularity but rather explanatory completeness—value's creative requirement includes the requirement of its own efficacy. The work engages seriously with Humean objections about deriving existence from mere ethical facts, proposing that in this unique case, the "ought" of supreme value directly entails the "is" of actual existence.

The position developed intersects complexly with traditional theism. While Leslie's axiarchism shares with classical theology the conviction that ultimate reality is fundamentally good, it diverges in treating value itself, rather than a divine person, as metaphysically basic. The work explores whether this view might be considered a form of pantheism or whether it represents a genuinely novel position in philosophy of religion.

Leslie situates his argument within broader discussions of cosmic fine-tuning and anthropic reasoning. He suggests that axiarchism provides resources for explaining the apparent bio-friendliness of physical constants without appeal to either chance or traditional design arguments. The work's influence extends beyond philosophy of religion into contemporary metaphysics and value theory, challenging conventional assumptions about the relationship between normative and descriptive facts.

Through rigorous argumentation that draws on both analytic philosophy and process thought, Leslie's monograph presents axiarchism as a serious alternative to both naturalistic and traditionally theistic worldviews. The work demonstrates how taking value as metaphysically fundamental opens new theoretical possibilities for understanding existence, consciousness, and cosmic purpose.