Divine Command Theory Flashcards
What did Leibniz say about DCT?
If God wills one person to do an act and then will someone to do the opposite, both acts would be morally right. This is rationally absurd
Explain the problem of surveillance
Christians sometimes take a teaching from the Bible that does not talk about ethics and then they apply it to an ethical problem
Explain DCT
An actions status is morally good or bad based on whether God commanded it
Explain the problem of abhorrent demands commands
If God was to command abhorrent malicious deception, those acts would become morally good
Explain the horns of Euthyphro dilemma
There are 2 horns.
1st horn: if an act is morally right because God commands it, then morality becomes confusing. We could be morally obligated to inflict cruelty on others.
2nd horn: Moral goodness is good because goodness is independent of god. God is irrelevant to morality and human beings should not judge.l
Explain the arbitrariness problem
Divine command theory appears to be his morality and whims of God. Gods commands can neither be informed no sanctioned by morality
Explain the pluralism problem
- It is impossible to know which Gods or religion’s commands to follow, especially as some religions contradict others, leaving it impossible to accept all of them
- new and old testaments in the Bible are very contradictory. Which god do we believe and follow?
Old - “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth”
New - “forgive 70x7” or “love thy neighbour”
What did Ockham believe about DCT?
He argues that divine command theory is unnecessary. He believes actions are morally good or bad in themselves
Explain the emptiness problem
If gods will is the standard of moral goodness, to say God is good is simply to say God is as he wills to be
What is applied ethics?
Applying ethics to ideas like euthanasia or nuclear weapons
Who are relativists and what do they believe?
People who believe there are no absolute rules and right and wrong depend on the situation
Who are absolutists and what do they believe?
People who believe certain things/ideas are always right or wrong
What are two rules about divine command theory?
1) God alone decide what is right and wrong.
2) what God commands is automatically good
Who came up with Euthypros dilemma?
Robert Adams
What does Peter Geach say about DCT?
He argues that DCT is unnecessary. He believes that actions are morally good or bad in themselves
