Divine Command Theory Flashcards
Augustine
The study of ethics is the Summun Bonum (source of all happiness).
Setting God as the object of all our love, humans achieve greatest happiness by properly loving others.
How does Augustine respond to the God commanding evil?
God can ‘suspend’ immorality.
Aquinas
God’s commands are related to human nature.
Humans are fulfilled by living the ‘good life’, which is marked by loving God and other people.
God decides what is due to all people.
How does Aquinas respond to God commanding evil?
God decides what is due to each person so it is not immoral. Isaac’s death would not be murder if he was slain due to God’s command. God’s authority is overriding in these scenarios.
How does William of Ockham respond to God commanding evil?
Morally bad actions can be performed by God without any moral evil. Those who obey God perform morally meritous action.
How does Swinburne respond to the problem of God commanding evil?
God, as creator and owner of all life, has the right to decide what is to be done with his property.
Dan 4:35 “He does as He pleases … no one can stop Him or say to Him ‘What do you mean by doing these things?’”
Give the five main points of DCT.
- Morality is determined by God. “The standard of right and wrong is the will or law of God”- Frankena.
- Humans have no moral authority.
- The only way to be moral is to follow God’s command.
- DCT is the natural consequence of God’s omnipotence.
- Objective, metaphysical, not testable.
What is meant by Divine Command Theory?
Morality is internal to God.
All goodness comes from God. We need to respect his “right order”. Without God there is no order and no divinity to answer to.
Give Biblical instances of God commanding evil.
Josh 6:17-21 (God commands Joshua to destroy the city of Jericho)
Genesis 22 (God commands Abraham to sacrifice Isaac)
Give a quote from Dostoyevsky in support of Divine Command Theory.
“If God doesn’t exist, everything is permissable.”
Phillip Quinn
“Morality depends, at least in part, upon the will of God.”
The difference between versions of DCT is a matter of how this dependance relation is understood.
Kant
Morality requires faith in God and an afterlife.
Clark and Poortenga
(Drawing upon moral theory of Aquinas) Given our human nature, some activities/ actions fulfill us; others do not.
Once God has created us with a certtain nature, he cannot arbitrarily decide what is good or bad for us.
Without stable grounding, how is the decision made to create humans with this nature?
What is the premise of Adams’ Modified DCT?
DCT is only acceptable “if God has the character of loving his human creatures.”
Soemthing is wrong only if it goes against the commands that are rooted in God’s character.
God’s commands are expressions of his omnibenevolence.
How does Adams’ DCT evade the arbitrariness problem?
God’s commands are not arbitrary; they are rooted in his unchanging omnibenevolent nature.
How does Adams’ DCT respond to the problem of omnipotence?
Morality exists internally to God. God isn’t subject to any external moral law.
God does not equal goodness. Goodness is only an essential characteristic of Him. Morality is a reflection of God’s nature.
How does Adams define traditional DCT?
“The theory that the wrongness of an action is contrary to God or that the word wrong means contrary to God’s commands.”
Adams disagrees, as this on the basis of the arbitrariness problem, which his DCT evades. He adits that his theory would break down if God commanded cruelty for tis own sake.
How is moral wrongness revealed in modified DCt?
Non-natural objective facts do not exist in science. Morality is revealed by the will of God.
How does Adams respond to God commanding evil?
It is logically possible for God to command evil, but unthinkable that he would do so.
Who supports Adams’ view?
William of Ockham: If God commanded cruelty, it would be obligatory. God’s character simply makes this unlikely.
Michael Austin
(In support of Adams’ Modified DCT)
God’s perfect nature is unchanging meaning the morality he ordains is consistent and permanent.
“God therefore retains his supreme moral and metsphysicla status”
How does Adams critique the subjectivity of traditional DCT?
“the theory that cannot be reasonably offered except as a theory of what the word ‘wrong’ means as used by some, but not all, people in ethical contexts”
(may be used in support of the argument that DCT makes morality irrelevant to non-believers)
How does Adams critique traditional DCT on the basis of omission of God’s omnibenelovence?
“The statement that something is ‘wrong’ says something about the will of God, but not about his love.”
What does Adams say regarding God’s command of cruelty?
“The modified DCT believes it is logically impossible that God should command cruelty for its own sake, but that it is unthinkable that God should do so.”
