The impassable path of a priori reasoning

analysis of Hume's critique of the ontological argument and its foundations

pp. 190-211

in: Miguel A. Badía Cabrera, Hume's reflection on religion, Berlin, Springer, 2001

Abstract

Hume's criticism is not specifically directed against the ontological argument, but rather against all attempts to demonstrate a priori the existence of God. But as Kant saw, this argument occupies a central position within this species of proof, for if it were valid, it would at once solve two problems which are inseparable for religious consciousness.¹ As its name suggests, it would establish simultaneously the essence and existence, not of any God or first cause, but of a Being that a religious person can always unconditionally accept as the genuine object of worship.