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    The concept of a 'necessary being' whose non-existence is... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→What sufficiently causes or fully adequately explains the existence of contingent beings must include a non-contingent (necessary) being, and therefore a necessary being exists.

    The concept of a 'necessary being' whose non-existence is impossible is either analytically vacuous or smuggles existence into essence, as Kant argued in CPR A592/B620.

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    1 reason for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Existence is not a real predicate but a presupposition of having any predicates at all, so it cannot be part of a concept's essence.
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    • 2.If necessity derived from essence alone, we could know a priori whether anything exists, contradicting our dependence on experience.
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    • 3.The ontological argument illicitly treats 'necessary being' as meaningful content when it merely restates the assumption that existence follows from concept.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.Some abstract objects (numbers, logical truths) seem necessarily existent without depending on empirical verification, undermining Kant's strict divide.
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    • 2.Distinguishing sharply between essence and existence may itself be a conceptual move that needs justification, not a self-evident principle.
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    • 3.A necessary being could be coherently conceived as one whose nature entails existence without circularity—just as mathematical truths do.
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    Natural Theology1 linked

    Related

    A necessary being could be coherently conceived as one whose nature entails exis...Distinguishing sharply between essence and existence may itself be a conceptual ...Existence is not a real predicate but a presupposition of having any predicates ...If necessity derived from essence alone, we could know a priori whether anything...
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    Some abstract objects (numbers, logical truths) seem necessarily existent withou...The ontological argument illicitly treats 'necessary being' as meaningful conten...What sufficiently causes or fully adequately explains the existence of contingen...

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