Journeys with Tim

could it be true?

The ontological argument for God's existence has been around a long time. Kant offered a famous critique of the argument that has persuaded a lot of philosophers the argument doesn't work. Kantian scholar Allen W. Wood wrote this about why philosophers have accepted Kant's claims:

As far as I can see, the principle reason why some philosophers have accepted this position is that once we do accept it, we have some plausible-sounding reason to give for rejecting the ontological proof, and therefore just possibly some means of freeing ourselves from the horrible nagging suspicion that this proof might be sound.

Regardless of the merits of the ontological argument, it's refreshing to hear a philosopher speak so frankly about the motivations behind the criticism. I think most people don't realize the extent to which matters of the will influence academia.