DCT Flashcards
What happens in Plato’s dialogue?
Socrates poses a question that is known as the Euthyphro dilemma.
What is the Euthyphro dilemma?
Does God command something because they are good in themselves or are things good because God commands them and approves them?
What did Plato say about holiness?
“Is the Holy approved by the Gods because it is holy, or is it holy because it is approved?”
What does Frankena say?
“the standard of right and wrong is the will or law of God.”
What does it suggest if right and wrong are objective truths based on God’s command?
If God were to command things because they were good, it suggests that there is a standard of goodness separate from God.
What does it mean if goodness is separate from God?
It would mean that God is no longer the creator of everything.
Explain Robert Adams’ modified DCT.
He argues that morality is grounded in God’s character and God’s commands are rooted in his character and since a characteristic of God is omnibenevolence then everything he commands will reflect this.
Why was modified DCT needed?
The arbitrariness problem - if God were to command something to be good which we would consider to be evil then technically we should believe that it is good.
What challenges can be derived from the Euthyphro dilemma?
The idea that morality is arbitrary if it is upto a divine being. And if God decides upon what is good, does this mean that there is a standard of good that is separate from God.
What does Baggini say about modified DCT?
The arbitrariness problem is just extended - is God’s nature good because it is good or is it good because it is God’s?
Give a problem of DCT?
Sometimes what God commands is not compatible with a modern society such as the views of homosexuality or do not kill.
