The Ontological Argument Reconsidered

Abstract

The ontological argument-first proposed by St. Anselm and subsequently developed by Descartes, Leibniz, Kant, Hegel and Marx-furnishes a key to understanding the relationship between thought and reality. In this article we shall focus on Hegel's attitude towards the ontological argument as set out in his Science of Logic, where it appears as a paradigm of the relationship between thought and reality. It should be remarked, moreover, that our choice of the subject was not random and that it was selected for the reason that belief in God is a preeminent social reality, inasmuch as faith in God creates His existence. Therefore, an investigation of the concept of God is an inquiry into the most profound recesses of human consciousness. The great opponents of the ontological argument, from Hume down to our day-and even Kant-have based their arguments upon the fundamental empiricist assertion that existential judgments are not analytical. In this paper we attempt to defend the ontological argument against its opponents.