Divine Command Theory Research Paper

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Where the morality of good and bad depends entirely on the will or commands of God, the divine command theory of morality is one of the most highly controversial and defended theories in history. Also referred to as theological voluntarism its concept varies according to the particular religion and views of the individual command theorist, but ultimately revolves around the same common claim which morality and moral obligations depend on the command of some deity, according to the forum "Divine Command Theory in the Passage of History.". (pp. 307-328)
Not only does Divine Command Theory provide a metaphysical basis for morality, but it also gives us a good answer to the question, why should we be moral? Should we be moral because “An act is …show more content…

Being that the theory is based on the Divine Command of the God(s), any act as long as it is pious it can be moral; For instance, if the deity or God(s) were to say rape can be good or killing another human can be good, then it ultimately would. All that essentially matters is if the deity commands it, then it is as such because it is pious. According to the article (Divine Moral Goodness, Supererogation and the Euthyphro Dilemma), When making moral truths they are unalterable and necessary, ultimately defeating itself and cannot make sense of God's moral goodness, which then seems hard to see how God's commands could be morally good when god himself cannot be subject to moral obligations. This troubles many of the the divine command theorist, but Alston another …show more content…

The man eventually starved to death in the ditch and this troubled Euthyphro, he believed the murder was impious no matter the circumstances and believed it was his duty to prosecute his father for the killing. When discussing the incident, Plato questions if Euthyphro knowledge of religion on determining if things are pious or impious, who responds with; “Prosecuting a wrongdoer is pious, whether it is your friend, or your parents, or a stranger” (pp. 308). This spouts Socrates suggestion of a philosophical flaw to this divine command theory, which is now known as the Euthyphro question, while Euthyphro was an extremist and very pious, it left little room for convincing a touchy topic. Socrates tried to get across the question of an action is wrong or impious because God forbids it or does God forbid it because it is wrong or

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