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Strengths and weaknesses of divine command theory
Strengths and weaknesses of divine command theory
Strengths and weaknesses of divine command theory
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In this paper I am going to put forth the theory of Divine Command explaining its meaning and argument behind it. This Theory will be explained and expanded with my understanding to support the on going argument. It gives my thoughts on the Objection being made for the Divine Command Theory and I will show the objection made to my knowing to the Criticism/Objection. The Criticism is providing a view on the Theory that is very strong and hard to object to but I will be arguing how it will be invalid. By the end of the paper it will be clear what Divine Command Theory is describing. My point of view will be shown.
Divine Command Theory is exactly what God permits or forbids from happening before any moral action can be determined. The theory says that whatever God says is right and wrong is in fact right and wrong. This means that God defines morality and he decides what is right and wrong. Moral actions are determined after and only after God has decided if it is something permitted and only so. The moral is given from God. If specifically God says a certain action is incorrect then it would be set to be morally incorrect overall. Having a wrong action take place only equals to a wrong consequence no matter what the situation is. Only if actual proof of God permitting it would the outcome of whether if is morally good. It would only be morally correct if the action were right giving a good consequence in result. God telling us to do such things is obviously for a perfectly good reason for our own good; he would not want to grant bad for us since he does love us.
The Objection being made for the Divine Command Theory is saying that if God would have permitted the torture of innocent children in the world, it would be making it mor...
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... me have not gone over there to help them. We are to busy reading and writing this paper. Alistar Begg once said, “The heart of the human problem is the human heart.” This is saying that only we are truly the problem. You see there only are two options, one that God forces us to love Him and do good. Which would make Him not good at all; He would be pretty much a cosmic rapist. Or option two; He gives us free choice to choose to love Him and do what we think is right. We make the choice.
In conclusion this argument on the objection is something that isn’t going to be solved in any way, it deeply continues but an actual conclusion and specific ending argument is not possible. It did show exactly how I explained my position. Divine Theory was explained to full extent. An Argument was given and explained about the Criticism given for the Divine Command Theory.
The controversial topic involving the existence of God has been the pinnacle of endless discourse surrounding the concept of religion in the field of philosophy. However, two arguments proclaim themselves to be the “better” way of justifying the existence of God: The Cosmological Argument and the Mystical Argument. While both arguments attempt to enforce strict modus operandi of solidified reasoning, neither prove to be a better way of explaining the existence of God. The downfall of both these arguments rests on commitment of fallacies and lack of sufficient evidence, as a result sabotaging their validity in the field of philosophy and faith.
... uses the lack of proof of Gods existence for God’s existence. This then essentially leads to a battle between science and religion on the idea of whether or not God can be proven to exist and whether that proof is essential to determine if science or religion has the right answer.
For example, in the Ten Commandments, God commands us not to murder, but before that command murder was neither right nor wrong. It was just murder. “Morality simply did not exist.” In turn, the first option implies that God did not invent the moral laws, but knew the ones already set in place. They then just commanded us to obey those laws, but, like Shafer-Landau stated, “then these reasons, and not God’s commands, [would be] what makes actions right or wrong.” I truthfully find the first option as the most reasonable, but I think that that opinion may be bias since I don 't believe that God
The Divine command theory states that morally right actions are those commanded by God, and any action going against it is morally wrong. People that accept this theory can only consider an act to be right or wrong if God commanded it to be so. Therefore, supporters of this theory have a moral obligation to do and obey whatever God considered to be right without questioning his judgment. Those in favor of this theory should fulfill his will without any hesitation, regardless of its consequences to society. So if God had claimed abortion to be morally right, everyone supporting this theory were to happily accept it. Moreover, this theory suggests that those who act on a moral sense God desires will be rewarded at the end, perhaps in the afterlife;
The divine command theory is an ethical theory relating to God and how his commandments should guide the morality of humankind. Objections to this theory include objections to the nature or existence of God or to the nature of his character or commands. For the purposes of this paper, I will present the divine command theory, introduce a serious objection evident in Genesis 22, propose and explain an alternative to the divine command theory that is the divine will theory, explain why this theory avoids the objection, and critique and respond from the perspective of a divine will theorist.
The four fundamental claims of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Human beings exist in a relation to a triune God, God’s presence in the world is mediated through nature and reality, faith and reason are compatible, the dignity of the human being is inviolable and therefore the commitment to justice for the common good is necessary. However, the great books in the Catholic Intellectual tradition show that they represent these fundamental claims in a broad distinctive way. This essay will show that these readings better represent one of the fundamental claims, human beings exist in a relation with a triune God, from the view point of three great books from the bible, Genesis, Exodus and the Gospel of Matthew. The Bible clearly supports the
...rinciples of law that were founded outside of his or her own opinion. They are not the source of what is just or unjust, but rather they merely apply the rules already established from years of social progression and political influence. Thus, when Divine Command theorists argue that they have successfully conquered the Euthyphro Argument, they must be reminded that the opposite is true, and the age-old dilemma has actually reduced their deities to magistrates of morality.
claims that God gave humans the freedom to choose between doing acts of good and
...tion, and therefore the Divine Command Theory has proved inadequate in this instance. In addition, accepting this alternative necessitates blind obedience, a condition which cannot be accepted by a critically thinking mind.
The Divine Command theory of ethics is a theory that states that an act is right or wrong and good or bad based on whether or not God commands or prohibits us from doing it. This means that the only thing that makes an action morally wrong is because God says it is. There are two sides to this theory; the restricted and the unrestricted. The restricted theory basically says that an action is obligatory if and only if it is good and God commanded it; the unrestricted theory states that an act is only obligatory if it is commanded by God, it is not obligatory if it is prohibited by God and it is optional if and only if God has not commanded nor prohibited it.
The first objection that Socrates stated was that Euthyphro’s first definition of piety was not a definition because it did not express a general idea of the word piety. Soon after the first try at defining the word piety, Euthyphro said that “what is dear to all the gods.” In disagreement, Socrates let out his second objection, which was that some gods could disagree. Then, Euthyphro said that piety was “what is dear to all the gods.” As his final objection, Socrates states “should something be pious just because it is dear to the gods or is it dear to the gods because it is pious?” In short, is an action considered morally right by God because it is morally good, or is it morally good because God orders it? Even though this important point impacts the Divine Command Theory mainly, it also works against the theory of Cultural Relativism. The theory’s problems start arising when you start to think “why do our actions become moral if society or our culture approves of them?” There is also nothing in the theory of Cultural Relativism that explains why normal behavior in a society is considered the moral behavior instead of the other way around. Thus, morality is decided on a random basis there is nothing that says what makes normal behavior moral. The Divine Command Theory and Cultural Relativism both share this weakness that discredits
Divine command states that what is moral is determined by what God commands, and that to be moral is to follow his commands. For example, Jehovah’s witnesses do not allow blood fusions because their scriptures say humans are not allowed to drink blood; although blood transfusions are allowed for children. Even though modern society does not condemn blood transfusions many Jehovah’s witnesses do not allow blood transfusions because they believe God does not allow blood transfusions. God is the almighty, and what he commands is morally right. Another concrete application of divine command theory is the five pillars of Islam. One must devote his life to following the five pillars; the pillars are correct because God insists upon it. Every Muslim is obliged to believe that there is no other God than Allah, ritual prayer must be done five times a day facing the holy city Mecca, fasting must be done during the month of Ramadan, give at least 2.5% savings to the poor, and make a visit to Mecca at least once in a person’s life time. People follow divine command to the fullest because it is moral to follow God’s commands.
In order to understand divine command theory we must first understand the nature of God and Morality. So we will start by taking a look at what makes an action moral. Once we understand what makes an action moral, we can then try to understand the author's’ viewpoint on the divine command theory of ethics. Understanding the viewpoint will allow us to dissect the author’s viewpoints and come up with counter-arguments that the author must then contend with.
Religious explanation is much different than scientific and philosophical explanation and when misunderstood can have a great conflict. Religious explanation does not originate from observation or logical deduction, but from belief of there being knowledge we don’t know of a higher being(s) who make and sometimes control us humans and the universe which we live. Religious explanation is where some of the first philosophical claims originat...
them. We are taught to do as Jesus did. This means that we should help