Hegel and the ontological argument for the existence of God

Paul Redding, Paolo Diego Bubbio

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We reconstruct Hegel's implicit version of the ontological argument in the light of his anti-representationalist idealist metaphysics. For Hegel, the ontological argument had been a peculiarly modern form of argument for the existence of God, presupposing a 'representationalist' account of the mind and its concepts. As such, it was susceptible to Kant's famous refutation, but Kant himself had provided a model for an alternative conception of concept, one developed by Fichte with his notion of the I=I. We reconstruct an Hegelian version of the ontological argument by considering the possibility of a Fichtean version, and then subjecting it to a critique based on Hegel's critical appropriation of Fichte's I=I.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)465-486
Number of pages22
JournalReligious Studies
Volume50
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014

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