Kant's view was incorporated into the standard predicate logic by Frege and Russell, who treat existence not as a property of objects (predicate), but as a property of properties (quantifier). It applies to a list of properties ("conception") and returns true or false depending on whether there is an object in the domain of discourse which instantiates that list. Of course, existence can still be treated as a "characteristic" of objects with the help of identity, ∃x(x=a) expresses that aa exists. But on a closer look what is being asserted is not that a exists but rather that the predicate is-a ("=a") is instantiated. There is no way to say that some a does not exist, ¬∃x(x=a) rather says that being-a is not a property of anything. One can object to such logicization of Kant's view (against his express words, apparently), but this is the prevailing interpretation of what he meant even among opponents of his view. Kant's notion of "conception" was developed into the descriptivist semantics by Russell, which came under heavy criticism, especially by Kripke in 1970s, see Kripke’s Attack on Descriptivism by Speaks, who offered an alternative theory of reference. Arguing with Kripke over Existence on Maverick Philosopher quotes him on existence specifically: