In
philosophy,
metaphysical necessity, sometimes called
broad logical necessity, is one of many different kinds of necessity, which sits between logical necessity and nomological (or physical) necessity. A
proposition is a said to be
necessary if it could not have been the case. The concept of a metaphysically necessary being plays an important role in certain arguments for the existence of God, especially the
ontological argument. Metaphysical necessity has proved a controversial concept, and criticized by
David Hume,
Immanuel Kant,
J. L. Mackie, and
Richard Swinburne, among others.