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.