Kant and Hegel: how an objection becomes proof

Abstract

In many circumstances the attacks of detractors have played a greater role in fostering the vitality of the ontological proof than the strenuous defence of its supporters. What is most surprising, however, is that that certain critiques have unwittingly become arguments containing an original reformulation of the ontological proof. The singular phenomenon of the trasformation of an objection into proof is precisely what we intend to consider in this essay, tracing a path that leads from Kant, the author of the objection on which we will focus most, to Hegel.