{"id":346,"date":"2006-10-17T08:18:08","date_gmt":"2006-10-17T08:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/?p=346"},"modified":"2021-01-03T18:47:00","modified_gmt":"2021-01-03T18:47:00","slug":"kants-criticism-of-the-ontological-argument","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/blog\/kants-criticism-of-the-ontological-argument\/","title":{"rendered":"Kant&#8217;s Criticism of the Ontological Argument"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The ontological argument is considered unique amongst arguments for God\u2019s existence because it is the only argument that can be classified as an <em>a priori<\/em> argument.\u00a0 By this we mean the sequence of logic we follow to draw the conclusion is not dependent on experience and the conclusion, <em>if<\/em> the premises are correct, must <em>necessarily<\/em> be so.\u00a0 The strength of the ontological argument rests on the idea that\u00a0<em>existence<\/em> is a property or attribute of a concept, sometimes called a <em>&#8220;predicate&#8221;, <\/em>much as say colour, length or mass would be for an object.\u00a0 So, for example, the <em>&#8220;most real&#8221;<\/em> $100 bill\u00a0<em>must<\/em> exist &#8211; for, unless it exists in actuality, I cannot spend it.\u00a0 Thus, if God is conceived of as the <em>&#8220;most real&#8221;<\/em> being, God <em>must<\/em> exist.<\/p>\n<p>Kant&#8217;s line of attack, which this essay attempts to explicate, is to show that existence is\u00a0<strong>not<\/strong> a predicate but something which is added later to a concept during its actualisation.\u00a0 He asserts that statements about existence are <em>synthetic<\/em> &#8211; they can only be validated by experience (in this case &#8211; does it exist?\u00a0 I have to <em>look<\/em> to confirm that), they are not propositions of logic or necessarily included in the definition (known as <em>analytic<\/em> statements, e.g. a triangle is a three-sided figure; to be a triangle includes the predicate, &#8216;3-sided&#8217;).<\/p>\n<p>You can find the essay <a href=\"https:\/\/planetmacneil.org\/Documents\/Content\/Kant-and-the-Ontological-Argument.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The ontological argument is considered unique amongst arguments for God\u2019s existence because it is the only argument that can be classified as an a priori argument.\u00a0 By this we mean the sequence of logic we follow to draw the conclusion is not dependent on experience and the conclusion, if the premises are correct, must necessarily [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,25,13,33],"tags":[174,171,175],"class_list":["post-346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christianity","category-philosophy","category-philosophy-of-religion","category-theology","tag-analytic-statements","tag-ontological-argument","tag-synthetic-statements"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>Kant&#039;s Criticism of the Ontological Argument - Planet M Blog<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kant&#039;s Criticism of the Ontological Argument - &#039;Existence is not a predicate&#039;. 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