Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Strengths and weeknesses of the divine command theory
Strengths and weeknesses of the divine command theory
Divine Command Theory restricted
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
God as Author of Morality There is always controversy arrow when we bring to the table any topic related to religion and it is not different when talk about morality. This paper will explore the controversial side that plays religion and morality in the seek of finding the author of what we know as social norms. In this Philosophy paper, we will discuss the origin and evolution of Divine Command Theory and we will analyze one of the objections against Divine Command Theory cited by Greek philosopher Plato (Atenas, 427 - 347 a. C.) which is: morality and moral obligations ultimately do not depend on God. First of all, we will discuss the origin end evolution of Divine Command Theory. There are three central assumptions about the correlation …show more content…
“An act is morally required just because it is commanded by God, and immoral just because God forbids it”. (2014 The Fundaments of Ethics p.67) This view makes ethic rely on God’ commands. But this ideology strongly depends on God’s existence. Arguments must not be linked to another argument whose fundaments are not settle. For the seek of this argument lest assume that God existence is an absolute truth and in fact he is responsible of giving us guidelines on who we may act. Shafer-Landua indicate that there still significant complications with this view. Such issue it was already identified by Plato two and a half millennia ago. Shafer-Landua cited a fragment of Euthyphro, a short dialogue authored by Plato, in which is discuss what is and what is not pious. During this short dialogue between Euthyphro and Socrates a questions pops up debating if gods love actions because of there are pious, or if actions are pious because of the purely of itself or if actions were morally right just because it is God’ commandment. Shafer-Landua reinterpreted this question as fallow: “Does God command us to do actins because they are morally right, or are actions morally right because God commands them”. (2014 The Fundaments of Ethics p.67) Divine Command Theory answer by arguing that since God is the author of morality, we must be obedient and execute those actions. However, if this is true, therefore there is no such a thing as morality, since we are just following commands. On the other hand, if we pay attention to the first part of the reinterpretation of Socrates questions: “Does God command us to do actions because they are morally right…” (2014 The Fundaments of Ethics p.67) This suggest that God recognize the existence of morality. But also suggest that God is not the author of those
Mere Christianity is divided into four books or sections that build and expand off of the prior. The first book is entitled “Right and wrong as a clue to the meaning of the universe” and he examines the common understanding among all men of a universal moral law hardwired in the minds of men. He begins this examination with a presentation of man’s concept of right and wrong. The simplest understanding among all men is the concept of fairness. This fair play points to a law and can be seen in the reactions of mankind to justice and injustice. He contrasts this moral law, the Law of Human Nature, with the law of nature found in the world. The mind of the moral relativist denies such standards yet fail to recognize their call for fairness as a fatal flaw in their reasoning.
First, Divine Command Theory derives morality from the word of God. This is because God is considered an all knowing omnipotent being. According to Divine Command Theory, God created us and
Within this theory, God is represented as a moral sovereign and is an omniscient and omnipotent creator of the world; people learn what right or wrong by gaining knowledge of God’s moral commands (Hinman, 2012). Thus, this theory is based on the framework of theism, and can vary according to the particular region and views of the individual theorist who investigates this topic, but there is one common opinion or even statement that within this theory only God can define what is morality and moral obligations. Moreover, metaphysics is also used as the foundation for morality in Divine Command Theory. Nevertheless, one should note that when evaluating the philosophical merits and drawbacks of this theory, it is necessary to take a broad perspective and consider the connections which can appear between the theory and other religious, psychological and moral issues, as well as the relevant questions connected with epistemology, aesthetics and metaphysics, which help to make a plan of life. Another important thing is that here it is possible to act for self-interest, as commands of self-sacrifice are considered as those approved by God. On the other hand there is something unsuitable concerning punishment, because in most cases people try to avoid it and instead to gain an eternal bliss which help them to achieve a moral
Although the Divine Command Theory assumes that the existence of God is necessary for the existence of morality, Arthur points out the possibility for the existence of good to be completely independent from the existence of God. He believes that the conscience, as a result of social forces, acts as a person’s moral motivation and moral guidance if not religion. Arthur also says that language is necessary for morality. Morality is social as it is an entity that "governs relationships between people.” It is used by individuals to justify their actions to others. Morality, through the consciousness of a person, serves as the voice and perspective of others within the individual—upholding Dewey’s
The Divine Command Theory says that any action, whether good or bad, is morally right if God is the one commanding the action (Vaughn 71). This theory belongs to the nonconsequentialist theory— an ethical theory that states that right and wrong are not determined by the consequences of an action (Vaughn 71). The Divine Command Theory is a Nonconsequentialist Theory because God is the source of truth and the rightness and wrongness of the action is based on the accepted rule of God’s words.
Your post is thought provoking and offers a unique prospective of how one can combine Virtue Ethics and Divine Command Theory to explain the manner in which one can determine the standards of an action. In agreement with your view, author of philosophical and religious work, Stephan Evans, states that the “Divine Command Theory is consistent with reasonable forms of Virtue Ethics because virtues are thought to provide a goal of moral obligation “(Evans, 2014, 53).
One source that philosophers often cite to disprove the theory comes from one of Plato 's dialogues in which Socrates asks, Is an action wrong because God forbids it, or does God forbid an action because he sees it as being wrong? If one agrees with the former statement, he must also agree that if God no longer forbade murder, slavery or torture, then any of these actions would be deemed moral. This is obviously not the case since causing harm to another individual for no good reason is almost universally considered ethically wrong. However, if one agrees with the latter statement, he must also agree that whether an action is right or wrong, it has nothing to do with God himself. Although a perfect (non-arbitrary) God can tell whether an act is moral or immoral with perfect clarity, he cannot affect the rightness or wrongness of any single action. Instead, he realizes the reasons behind why an action is morally incorrect. For example, God declares that torture is wrong because it causes pain and humiliation to a defenseless person. It is for this reason, and not because God simply declared it to be so, that torture is wrong. Therefore, the divine command theory is
Divine command ethics is a theory that states, that an action's moral content is equivalent to if it was commanded by God. It states that if God is all powerful, then he must also be all good. It then follows that if God is all good, everything He commands must be moral. It uses God as the only basis of determining if a particular action is moral. Moreover it states that an action cannot be moral if, God did not expressly command the action to be performed, this theory also does not allow an atheist to be able to perform a moral action even by mistake. Since the morality of the action depends entirely on if God would have commande...
For instance, not all of the Ten Commandants go along with the time we are living in. One of the Ten Commandants says we should not take the name of the Lord in vain and nowadays it’s something we do everyday. In addition, religious followers may decide to act in a harmful or negative way in society and defend themselves by saying that God had commanded them to do it; which may lead to extreme religions, where its followers may take every word of the book to heart and try to implement those views on their society. On another note, our society can have this as our moral system because of different religions and of atheist because, since they believe in other values. With the Divine Command it makes us question on whether who came first, God or right. When comparing the Divine Command with the Minimum Conception, it can be deduced that both are very differing from each other. One of the reasons being that with the Divine Command God chose for us what it’s right or wrong and if it became a moral system, atheists will feel out of place because they have a different set of believe just like other religions.
The divine command theory is the view in which, what is right is what God commands, and what is wrong is what God forbids. The divine command theory brings morality and religion together in a way that provides a solution to arguments such as, moral relativism and the objectivity of ethics. A philosopher named Plato created The Euthyphro Dilemma, which was created from the dialogue from Socrates and Euthyphro. The Euthyphro Dilemma can be stated: “Is an action morally good because God commands it, or does God command it because it is morally good?” An individual might be more open to take a step back from the divine command theory and in its place to be something external to God. The ethical implications of this argument suggest that the correlation
A. Morality comes from God. Therefore, moral behavior is that behavior that conforms to the will of God. Immoral behavior defies the will of God. The will of God is correctly interpreted by the Church. Rating: 6. I was feeling this one, until the last sentence. There are so many denominations, and the reason is that they disagree with one another. Many religions interpret what the will of God is differently, not to mention incorrectly. I do believe that a big part of morality comes from God.
Divine Command Theory is an act that is morally required just because it is commanded by God and immoral just because God forbids it. The main question for DCT is, “ Does God command actions because they are morally right, or are actions morally right because God commands them?” it is said that prior to God's declaration of morals nothing was right or wrong. So, did God have reasons for his decisions? The answer for example is, that God recognizes what is already bad about torture, there is something in its nature that makes it wrong, since God wants us to be good he orders us not to attempt such actions.
One of the central developments was to establish what principles is shared by people of different faiths, as Christianity is not completely universal nor necessarily natural in all of its principles set forth. Grotius took part in initiating this development as he denounced the notion of universal Christianity, and suggested a better degree of validity would be possible under a less biased set of moral principle (Coleman, pg. 67). This development was found to be what is most “reasonable” for mankind by modern theorists such as John Finnis, yet branching from the notions set forth by prior theorists. Finnis’ theory operates in the absence of a divine figure, yet still holds a universal standard of what is “good.” This reasonable notion is further evaluated as moral principles are naturally embedded into human beings, and a particular system such as religion is not necessary to reflect such (Coleman, pg.
The relationship between god(s) and human beings is very ambiguous, and thus can become very complicated. Through analyzing early world literature, such as, the Hebrew Scriptures, the New Testament, and the Qur’an, this paper will work to frame the evolution of the relationship between god(s) and human beings. All of these scriptures have eternal moral principles recurrent to god(s) relationship to mankind. The narrators write from an omniscient perspective, writing even god’s inner thoughts.
One mystery that provides evidence of a divine creator is the origin of human morality. Throughout history, the moral laws of civilizations have striking similarities. When comparing the moral laws of the Hindus, Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, or Romans, many parallels exist between their moral philosophy and governing laws. Where does human morality originate? Some argue that it is a natural human instinct that originates from the evolution of man; however, risking one’s life to save another defies the instinct of one’s survival. Morality is not just an instinct, but is a part of being human. “The Moral Law tells us the tune we have to play: our instincts are merely the keys” (Lewis 11). Genesis 1:27 says that we are made in the image of God. Like him, we have feelings of love, happiness, and sorrow. Romans 2:14-15 states that God created morality in men and “wrote it on their hearts” (Romans 2:15). Although, sin causes men to revert to selfishness, man has a trait of altruism. There are many stories in history where people have sacrificed themselves for someone else. (give an example: For example, famous history person gave life to save other people in famous history event ) Altruism goes against the evolutionary idea of survival of the fittest when someone is willing to risk his or her own life for someone weaker. It is a God given trait (Mitchell,