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5 - Kant

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2018

Graham Oppy
Affiliation:
Monash University, Victoria
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Summary

Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason contains four distinct objections to the Ontological Argument (OA), only one of which contends that existence is not a predicate (E ~ P). After some preliminary discussion of Kant’s treatment of the ens realissimum, this chapter will turn to his four objections to the OA. As will be seen, of Kant’s four objections to the OA, two are based upon an analytic reading of the statement ‘God exists’ while the other two follow a synthetic reading of the statement. Moreover, the first two grant for the sake of argument that existence is a predicate. This will lead us to two related issues: whether Kant’s division between real and logical predicates adequately captures all subject–predicate relations; and whether or not Kant has taken proper account of the difference between the ‘marks’ (Merkmalen) of concepts versus the properties of objects. After some discussion of these issues and their bearing on his famous hundred-dollar example, we will turn to three recent strategies used to defend Kant’s case for (E ~ P). It will be argued that none of these strategies succeeds, and that, in the end, there may be no definite argument for establishing whether or not existence is a predicate.
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

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  • Kant
  • Edited by Graham Oppy, Monash University, Victoria
  • Book: Ontological Arguments
  • Online publication: 01 November 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316402443.006
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  • Kant
  • Edited by Graham Oppy, Monash University, Victoria
  • Book: Ontological Arguments
  • Online publication: 01 November 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316402443.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Kant
  • Edited by Graham Oppy, Monash University, Victoria
  • Book: Ontological Arguments
  • Online publication: 01 November 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316402443.006
Available formats
×