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(a599) Stating That ‘god Is An Absolutely Necessary Being' Does Not ...

(A599)
Stating that ‘God is an absolutely necessary being' does not necessarily mean that God exists, it just states that absolute necessity is a necessary part of the concept of God. If we state that God does not exist, and then reject the concept of God and all its predicates, no contradiction arises (A595). For, Kant continues, a hundred real thalers (the currency in use during Kant's time) contains no more thalers than a hundred imaginary ones (A599). But his financial position is greatly affected by whether or not he has real or imaginary money. No matter how much our concepts contain, Kant (A601) argues, we must look outside of them to ascribe existence. A merchant can add as many noughts as he likes to his cash account, but that does not aid his finances (A602). Disproving the ontological argument is crucial for Kant, because, as we shall see, the other two arguments that try to prove God's existence both rely on it.
The cosmological argument, which is the next argument that Kant critiques, begins from experience, and claims that if anything is to exist at all, then there must be necessary existence. As I know that ‘I' exist, then there must be necessary existence, and this existence is God. But, Kant argues (A588), even if there is necessary existence, this does not mean to say that it has to be a ‘higher' existence such as God. In order for God's existence to be proven, it would have to be inferred from that of necessary existence, which, as we have seen from Kant's critique of the ontological argument, is invalid. So although the cosmological argument appears to be based from experience, in reality it relies on the ontological argument that Kant has already refuted.
The third argument for the existence of God that Kant critiques is the physico-theological argument. This is more commonly known as the argument by design. Kant admits that he finds this argument to be the best of the three, mainly because it useful in making people look into the workings of the world that surrounds them (A624). It is fatally flawed however, because, as in the cosmological argument, it relies on the refuted ontological argument. The physico-theological argument states that as the individual elements of the world run in such an orderly and united fashion, there must be some ultimate cause that works throughout nature (A625-626). This is however merely another argument through analogy, as we compare the workings of nature through that of the human manufacture of house, watches, ship and so on.

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