Modal Ontological Arguments and the Predicate of Existence

Abstract

In response to the ontological argument for the existence of God, it is often objected, following Immanuel Kant, that existence is not a predicate. It is not entirely clear, however, in what way this objection has any relevance to some more recent modal versions of the ontological argument. The question that I attempt to answer is whether the modal versions of the ontological argument rely on the predication of existence, and if they do not, if they can be said to avoid Kant’s objection.