The Transcendental Grounding Of Kant’s Theology

This transcendental proof is not apodictically certain; for it cannot establish the objective necessary of an original being, but establishes only the subjective necessary of assuming such a being. But this proof cannot be refuted, because it has its ground in the nature of human reason. For my reason makes it absolutely necessary for me to assume a being which is the ground of everything possible, because otherwise I would be unable to know what in general the possibility of something consists in. Hence every possibility presupposes something actually given, since if everything were merely possible, then the possible itself would have no ground; so this ground of possibility must itself be given not merely as possible but actual. But it must be noted that only the subjective necessary of such a being is thereby established, for reason must come to know its weakness, its inability to soar over the boundaries of all possible experience. So the totality of what speculative reason can teach us concerning the existence of God consists in showing us how we must necessarily hypothesize the existence.