1A - Divine Command Theory Flashcards
What is meta-ethics?
The branch of ethics that seeks to understand the nature of ethical properties, statements, attitudes, and judgments.
“What is goodness?” “How can we tell what is good from what is bad?”
Biblical response to the Euthyphro dilemma
The Bible teaches that God is perfect.
Quotes - Bible
“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48
Bible line of belief
If God is perfect, He must be without evil
Since God is without evil then He must be good
This means that perfect and good must be the same
Therefore, all of God’s commandments must be good as they reflect His nature of no evil
Can a person be seen as moral if they follow the commandments of God?
Yes
Who advocates for DCT?
William Ockham
William Frankena
Robert Adams
God of classical theism characteristics
Omnibenevolent
Omnipotent
Omniscient
Frankena
- Argues that God dictates what is good and bad
- Argues that God is omnipotent which makes ethics objective
God decides what is right or wrong and they become objective because they come a being who can do anything (this includes making objective ethics)
William Ockham
For God to be truly omnipotent then He must have the ability to change His mind on what is good and bad
However, God wouldn’t do this because he doesn’t want to
Robert Adams
Began to create an updated version of DCT which he termed the ‘modified divine command theory’
States that what is wrong is contrary to God’s commands. This means that God commands what is good rather than there being an independent good which God must abide by.
Adams - Criticism
His theory raises the question of ‘what if God commands humans to do a wrong act?’. If God commands what is good and bad then surely He can state anything is good and we are morally obliged to do this
How does Adam respond to this criticism?
He reminds the critic that God is omnibenevolent so he would not ask us to something that would harm one of His children
Divine Command Theory - arbitrary?
Yet, Adams’ development of Divine Command Theory does not fall into this criticism as he suggests that God gives us moral commands to prevent us from suffering
Person’s morality linked to
This means that a person’s morality is linked with their belief system
William Of Ockham - Quotes
“And they can be performed meritoriously by someone on earth if they should fall under a divine command”
- In relation to common law
Adams’ further modified DCT to it being arbitrary
States that good can’t be arbitrary because it is grounded in God’s omnibenevolent nature
It removes all responsibility from the person because we just have to do what God says
It gives us absolute laws to follow
Criticism - Baggini
- Baggini argues that Adams’ theory doesn’t solve the Euthyphro dilemma. It’s simply restated, is God’s nature good because it is good or good because it is God’s?
God’s omnibenevolence is brought into question - “If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death.”
DCT discriminates all other religions that are not Abrahamic
Euthyphro Dilemma
Socrates is preparing to defend himself against the charges that will ultimately lead to his death.
Euthyphro is prosecuting his dad. Euthyphro believes it right because God commanded it.
1.) Are right actions right because God commands them?
2.) Are right actions commanded by God because they are right.?
Means God can command anything is good
The arbitrariness problem
If God determines the rightness and wrongness of everything, just by saying so, then the entire concept of goodness and value becomes vacuous.
The idea of good does not exist.
God’s omnipotence?
If there’s some standard of goodness that God has to stick to when making commands, then that means there must be things that God cannot command
EITHER..
God is bound by a standard outside of himself, or God’s goodness doesn’t really mean anything
The Arbitrariness Problem
DCT appears to render the content of morality arbitrary. What is good and what is bad depends on nothing more than God’s whims. This is not an adequate foundation for morality.
DCT - Response - Arbitrariness problem
He could hold that God’s decision is informed by what is best for us or by what tends to maximise utility. He can maintain that it is God’s love for us and concern for our well being, or our desires that informs God’s decisions. Not just what is morally good
Pluralism Problem
Given the variety and number of religions in the world, how does the divine command theorists know which divine command to follow? The religions of the world often give conflicting accounts of the nature and content of the commands of God.
Michael Austin - Pluralism
It is impossible to know which God’s or religion’s commands should be followed, especially because some religions contradict others, leaving it impossible to accept all of them.
Response - Pluralism
A divine command theorists must decide for themselves through autonomy based on available evidence which understanding of the divine to adopt and which understanding of divine commands within their particular tradition they find to be the most compelling.
Further issue - pluralism
That it is only those who follow the correct religion and the correct interpretation of that religion, that are moral, which seems highly problematic.
Austin argues that DCT has the view that moral truths can be found in all religions and that moral revelation can be found apart from religion. For example, all religions and secularists agree that the murder of innocent people is immoral. Therefore, on earth, someone may be worshipping the incorrect God, but, they are following that God’s commandments making them good.
Robert Adams - Modified Divine Command Theory
1.) It is logically impossible for God to command cruelty for its own sake, and so it is senseless to debate it.
2.) God could command cruelty for its own sake and if God commanded it, we would be obliged to obey.
