The Divine Command Theory Of Morality Essay

Ethics can be defined as ‘Human moral conduct according to principles of what is good or right to do’. In Christianity there are certain ethical teachings, mainly The Ten Commandments, Beatitudes, and Jesus’ commandments of love. The Ten Commandments are derived from the Old Testament which defines what people must do in order to serve God faithfully and gives direction on how to live a life according to the covenant and in essence to be a good Christian person. In the New Testament the Beatitudes and Jesus’ commandments of love are found. With love being the main concept of these teachings, they and the Ten Commandments can be seen as alike as they

The conflict between the Divine Command Theory and the Euthyphro objection come with questions about who sets the rules of morality, and how it can be assumed that these rules are justifiable. On one hand, the Divine Command Theory defends the idea that an act is morally right because God commands it and wrong because He commands against it. This sets God’s will as the foundation of ethics, making morally good actions those that comply with His commandments. This religion-based concept becomes problematic when it runs into the Euthyphro dilemma, founded from Plato’s Euthyphro dating back to 395 BC. The argument centralizes on why it is that God commands rightful actions, bringing in the question of, “Are moral acts commanded by God because they are morally good, or does God command things to be right because He has good reasons for them?” The Euthyphro argument creates its foundation on the idea that either God has reasons for His commands, or that He lacks reasons for them. This divides up the Divine Command Theory in two ways, either making the theory wrong or portraying God as an imperfect being. If God does have reasons for His commands, then these reasons are what would make the actions right or wrong. God’s reasons would stand as the basis of morality, instead of God’s commandment itself. God having reasons would insinuate that goodness existed before any direction from God because otherwise, there wouldn’t be any commandment. Morality would have to stand independent

The divine command theory states morality is dependent on God’s commands (Boss 136). Like ethical subjectivists, divine command theorists also do not believe in universal moral standards (Boss 136). Additionally they state God has the ability to change moral rules at any time (Boss 138). For instance, although the ten commandments state thou shalt not kill, a divine command theorist would claim the radical islamic terrorists responsible for 9/11 were morally correct in killing thousands of people because God commanded it then. However, a divine command theorist would also have to believe president George Bush was morally correct by sending over troops to Iraq to kill the terrorists responsible. These conflicting commands bring up one of many

Divine Command Theory is a type of ethical relativism that states that morality is dependent on God’s will, and his will, and his way is holy, and will forever be no matter the situation. In other words as stated by Rachels, what God commands is what is morally right, and what God forbids is morally wrong (Rachels, 2001). Within this theory, it makes it known that morality cannot exist separately from God’s will.

The world is made of all types of people and all types of actions. Conservative, liberal, empathetic, apathetic, introverted extroverted, etc, etc, etc. In a world where there is no shortage of choices and options, the thought ‘how do I decide’ is a frequent one. While some of these traits may not be choices, they influence the choices we do make. When playing with decision making the concept that arises most is that of right and wrong. This concept is introduced to most people at a very young age, it’s intent to teach you the proper way to behave. But what would happen if right and wrong didn’t exist? Moral Nihilism would happen. Moral nihilism is the theory that there is no ethical truth, and that right and wrong do not inherently exist. This theory addresses the fact that no ethical theory can be proven in certainty, it is unbiased, and it is universal while still remaining flexible to the individuals morals. While it does have its faults- It is the most rational theory.

First of all, we will discuss the origin end evolution of Divine Command Theory. There are three central assumptions about the correlation between morality and religion. We may focus on one out of those three assumptions. This assumption points out that somehow there is a direct relation between a divine being and what is morally appropriate. Russ Shafer-Landua explains this argument by claiming: “Morality must be created by someone, and God is by far the best candidate.” (2014 The Fundaments of Ethics p.63) God’s omniscience (all-knowing) is which gives the best credentials for designing a moral code. Also, this assumption claims that without the existence of God there would be a lack of morality, considering that we need some authority to guide us. Our disapproval of certains action do not make things wrong, since as human beings, we have a limited overall vision. Shafer-Landua also shows that due

Divine command theory states that our responses to a certain situation should fall in line with what God has commanded. These commandments are the way in which we need to live our lives. If we are to disobey God's commandment, then we are immoral and are unjust with our reaction. If we obey and follow them, then we are moral and

In The Elements of Moral Philosophy, James Rachels writes about The Divine Command Theory. The Divine Command Theory is a set of rules in which God created that Christians, Jews, and Muslims must follow. Humans, however, are free agents and have a choice of what to do. If humans choose to live as they should, then they must follow the rules set in place by God; He is the one who decides what is right and what is wrong. This theory however has some major flaws.

Morality recognizes freedom within humanity (the ability to make free decisions over against a sense of determinism) and seeks to “extend freedom’s realm to infinity and make everything subservient to it” (23). Morality’s primary domain is action and its principle concern is determining those deeds that must be performed and proscribed.

Philosophy 111 Andrew Irvine September 25, 2014 Divine Command Theory Dan Glaser - 20540143 Divine Command Theory is the idea that morality is grounded in God’s nature, such that something (i.e., a choice, behaviour, action, etc.) is morally good because it was commanded by God. Something that is considered morally evil, is such because God forbids it from being done. For example, the bible teaches us to love our neighbours and be generous and is there for considered morally good actions because God commands it upon us. Likewise, it is considered morally evil to steal and murder because God forbids it.

In this chapter, we discussed and learned about religion and its impact on ethics. There are three thesis ideas on how religion affects morality. The first thesis states religion is irrelevant to ethics. The second thesis is called the Divine Command Thesis, it explains that religion is necessary for ethics. Religion can enhance morality is what the third thesis claims.

First, Divine Command Theory is the philosophy that morality is reliant on God, and that moral obligations are directly associated with God’s commands. In other words,

Throughout the history of the world, people have been concerned with what it is to live a moral life. Many answers have been put forth for this question, but the best by far is found in the Christian Bible. This is because the Bible is a revelation from the Creator. While people can grope in the dark to find answers to moral questions by looking at natural law, they are always frustrated because the real nature of the world we live in is fallen and corrupt. We have an adversary who tries to deceive us and minds that are easily deceived. Even at our most rational, we make mistakes in logical inference, and need to be corrected. In this paper, we will look at biblical ethics in terms of meta-ethics, deontology, virtue theory, and

Morality only exists if we believe in God; therefore if God doesn’t exist there is no morality. There have been so many evil acts committed in the name of God that it is difficult to maintain that a belief in God equates to morality. There are situations that happen every day where decisions are made based off of human rights that contradict the word of God. Morality comes from within, it is an understanding of right versus wrong and the ability to choose what is right. Knowing all this a belief in God is not a requirement for a person to be moral. (Mosser, 2011)

To many individuals, morality and religion are two related but distinct ideas. To be specific, morality consists of principles set by societal norms concerning the distinction between right and wrong and good and bad behaviour among persons. Alternatively, religion involves the relationship between human beings and a transcendent reality or a superhuman controlling power, God. In many societies in the past and present, the idea of God is used to help reinforce moral codes as valuable and vital through rituals and methods of presenting the teachings of God. By many, religion is used to instil fear