Preview

Essay On Divine Command Theory

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1004 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Essay On Divine Command Theory
Advocates that describe letting someone die as being more moral than killing someone often cite the trolley case as support for their argument, and use modus tollens. Where a trolley is coming down the track towards a group of five unsuspecting individuals, and you are in a position to pull a lever. Pulling the lever switches the tracks to just kill one unsuspecting person. Their argument is that if you pull the lever to switch the track to kill the one individual; then, by deciding who dies, you are morally worse than if you had done nothing. You don’t pull the lever, there for you are not morally worse having done nothing. This uses the form of modus tollens; If p then q, ~p, therefore ~q. Implying that letting an individual die is more …show more content…
While in utilitarianism an action is held to be good according to the amount of utility and happiness it can produce; divine command theory believes that an action is only morally good if it is the result of the action being commanded by God. With respect to the argument of whether killing someone is morally worse than letting someone die; an advocate of divine command theory would state that as humans, we do not have the right the dictate whether a person lives or dies. Therefore letting someone die is most often morally better than intentionally killing someone, regardless of the circumstances. Except if God commands that said individual should die, only then is it morally better. In the trolley case, it would be better to do nothing from the divine command theory perspective. It may have even been meant to be that the trolley kill the five people rather than the one. So what right do humans have to interfere with things that have been set in motion, possible as God’s will. In spite of how atrocious it may seem, what is morally right is what God desires. Divine command theory sees utilitarianism as trying to play God, in determining what produces the most utility. Individuals do not have the wherewithal to decide another humans happiness potential, possibly not even their own. Death is only acceptable with it is God’s will, not a humans choice. It is important to note,
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    When the Emperor Was Divine Essay Example
    • 754 Words
    • 3 Pages

    When the Emperor Was Divine Essay Example

    Otsuka indicates that the boy and girl are changing both internally and externally in many ways. Otsuka gives the reader more clues about how the children are changing internally more than externally. She does this with the children’s actions. For instance, when the boy first was in the internment camp, when he walked past the guards, sometimes he would say the Emperor’s name aloud. This demonstrated the boy’s loyalty towards his Emperor. I admired the boy for feeling so passionately about his heritage and knowing that it was not wrong even when people told him it was. When he got back home, his whole attitude was changed. He followed the instructions he had been taught in the lecture on “How to Behave in the Outside World.” and did not attempt to do anything slightly rebellious. He no longer was proud of who he was. He had been brain washed by the internment camp, and by everyone who was treating him differently. I was disappointed, but I knew that if I had been in his place, I would have done the same thing. I noticed that the girl seemed to change a lot more than the boy did. We didn’t read about her nearly as much in the third chapter when it was the boy’s perspective, which that in it’s self is one way in which Otsuka indicated the girl changing. On the train ride there, the girl would chat with her mom and brother, but once they had been at the camp for a while, she would disappear and her family barely saw her. “His sister left the barracks early in the morning and did not return until long after dark…She smoked cigarettes. He could smell them in her hair. One day he saw her standing in line at the mess hall in her Panama hat and she hardly seemed to recognize him at all.” This shows not only how she no longer liked to spend time with her family, but I think it reflects the kind of image Otsuka wanted the reader to think of when they thought about the girl. I imagined the stereotypical troubled teen that abandons their family and turns to drugs…

    • 754 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    What the Divine Command Theory means according to Emil Brunner and how Kai Nielsen objects to that theory.
    • 1293 Words
    • 4 Pages

    What the Divine Command Theory means according to Emil Brunner and how Kai Nielsen objects to that theory.

    In this paper I intend to explain what the Divine Command Theory means according to Emil Brunner and how Kai Nielsen objects to that theory. I plan to do this by an explanation of what Divine Command Theory is as opposed to Humanistic Ethics. I plan to show that abandoning religious ethics in support of Humanistic Ethics is not reasonable.…

    • 1293 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Aspects of the Male Divine Article
    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Aspects of the Male Divine Article

    The author in this article questions the gender of god in the face of the onslaught of the question of the female divine; the varied criticisms and the study of the scriptures where God declares to Moses “I am that I am.” The article goes on to defend the male divine in that it argues from religious studies, scriptures and published studies the male nature of God from a Christian’s standpoint. Taking on certain criticisms and arguing against them point by point, the article is a reaction to the threat of women’s liberation and the wave of studies on the female divine. The author of this article goes on to reiterate the actions taken on by other religions to fall into a certain political correctness when discussing god, removing his gender which the author believes is confusing. Since the establishment of early Christianity as God is seen as the “Holy father” and Jesus as His “only Son”, the author of this article argues that God has no gender and that even with the male divine argument, God exists outside sexual differentiation. The attributes of the Male divine in God is due to the fatherhood personified in human worship of 'Him' and the female attributes come from the “female acts” that God is seen to perform according to the scriptures. Even then, the question of God's gender in this article while 'made invalid' due to God's “motherhood” still pronounces the “male divine” being that 'God' even from a Christian viewpoint due to the Jewish patriarchal nature of the Old Testament being that Jewish Theology is heavy on male transcendence. Judaism sees patriarchy as the mandate of giving life and of making reality - women need the male to “be heavy with child”, to look after the family, to carry the line from generation to generation. Thompson however argues that while this is so, the Male Divine is just a manifestation of the “wholeness” that is “God the Holy Spirit” and “Spirits” do not inhibit a corporeal body so gender does not limit them. The Dvine is…

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Divine Command Theory Research Paper
    • 232 Words
    • 1 Page

    Divine Command Theory Research Paper

    The Divine Command Theory leaves no room for reconciliation with the concepts of Christian liberty and God’s undeserving grace. There is no room for failure according to this concept because we will never be able to keep all of God’s commandments. It is difficult, dare I say impossible, to accept this theory if one is a true believer. By rejecting the concept of grace, one rejects the very compassion and reason Jesus died on the cross for us. The apostle Paul states, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God-not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life" (Hollinger, 2002, p.100) (Ephesians 2:8, New Living Translation). I will never be able to earn the grace of God, yet it is his “internal working of grace” that allows me to be ethical (Hollinger, 2002, p.100). "If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free for real" and free from the condemnation of the law.…

    • 232 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Theology 202 Essay 1
    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Theology 202 Essay 1

    The question of evil is a common hot button topic among atheists and non-Christians who attempt to disprove Christianity. They argue that an omnipotent and omniscient God cannot exist in a world with so much evil. The argument is used by them to try to prove that Christianity is “internally self-contradictory and thereby to be rejected.” Many claim that a benevolent and caring God would certainly not create evil or allow it to flourish in the world that He created. So, the problem of evil is how to explain that there can be a perfect, all-powerful, and all-loving God that exists in a world with so much moral and natural evil.…

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God Essay
    • 930 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God Essay

    As once a founding father of the United States, Benjamin Franklin once stated, “do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.” Though this quote might have been years later than 1741 during the time of the Great Awakening. Jonathan Edwards gave the inspiring speech “Sinners in The Hands of an Angry God” to puritans who left the church and left Edwards feeling that puritanism was in danger. He uses fear as a tactic to get the unfaithful puritans to rededicate their lives to God and gives them hope to repent for the mistakes they have made. Edwards uses frightful imagery, and violent then hopeful metaphors to get puritans who strayed away from strict religion to come back and have a second chance at a pure life.…

    • 930 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    An Angry God Thesis
    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages

    An Angry God Thesis

    In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”’ Jonathan Edwards uses appeal to fear to help his audience experience the consequences of sinful behavior. One such image is when Jonathan says “ a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God…..nothing you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment…”. Edwards is trying to make you imagine that you are been held by God over the pit of hell. This appeals to fear by creating anxiety of not knowing when he could let you go then, and when he does you would be descending down to hell with know one to help you.…

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Divine Command Theory
    • 1962 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Divine Command Theory

    The core of ethics is the distinction between what is considered to be good and what is considered to be wrong. As societies evolved and lives became more intertwined, the need for understanding right and wrong became increasingly important. In order for large groups of people to live in a functioning way, a set of rules must be established so that everyone is aware of the consequences of certain behaviors. The application of establishing a set of rules that labeled actions as wrong and right created morals. Morality is the standard by which choices are tested, but the origin of morals is questionable.…

    • 1962 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    trolley problem
    • 309 Words
    • 2 Pages

    trolley problem

    In this essay will be discussing the trolley problem devised by Philippa Foot, and exploring different aspects of utilitarianism in relation the situation. The trolley problem is as follows ‘A train is hurtling down a track and you see that it is going to hit a group of 5 people and will certainly kill them all. However you are standing on a bridge over the line next to a fat man and you are sure that if you pushed him onto the line his bulk would be sufficient to stop the train before it hit the group of people, would you push him?’.…

    • 309 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Introduction to Christian Thought
    • 9120 Words
    • 37 Pages

    Introduction to Christian Thought

    1. Why does the author say that everyone is a theologian? Everyone has an opinion about religion…

    • 9120 Words
    • 37 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Arguments Against Active Euthanasia
    • 1542 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Arguments Against Active Euthanasia

    “Any action or social policy is morally right if it serves to increase the amount of happiness in the word or to decrease the amount of misery. Conversely, an action or social policy is morally wrong if it serves to decrease happiness or to increase misery.” (RSL/Rachels, EL 247) The utilitarian argument is used to justify and condemn many policies, however, I believe that the argument is especially fitting when it comes to the matter of active euthanasia. Mercy, an action that serves to decrease the overall misery in the world, is an unquestionable sign of kindness and correctness. Mercy comes in many forms and is rarely frowned upon. Following this reasoning, why is mercy that takes the form of ending a suffering patient’s life considered…

    • 1542 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Divine Command Theory
    • 375 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Divine Command Theory

    The Divine Command Theory states that whatever God says is so, simply because God said so. Meaning X is morally right because God says so and Y is morally wrong because God says so. This theory states that things are wrong or right simply because God says, not because of what we consider to be morally right or wrong, but just because of what God says.…

    • 375 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Killing vs. Letting Die
    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Killing vs. Letting Die

    There's been quite a controversy in the topic of "killing" and "letting someone die". Just by the word "kill", many will say it's worse to kill a person, for example shooting them than allowing a person to die by say, not providing them with medicine. With this said, this just simply means that it it worse to harm a human being than letting harm happen to them. It's quite hard to weigh which is wrong or which is morally right. It really depends and varies on the situation we're talking about.…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Divine Command Theory And Kant's Deontological Ethics
    • 234 Words
    • 1 Page

    Divine Command Theory And Kant's Deontological Ethics

    Today I learned about two moral theories, Divine Command Theory and Kant's deontological ethics. Divine Command theory is a non consequential normative theory that says we should always do what God commands; the view that actions are morally right if God commands or permits them, and morally wrong if and only if God forbids them. The second version of Kant’s Categorical Imperative says that every human being is an end in himself—a person whose capacity to choose for himself must be respected—so we should not use people only as means to achieve our own goals but should always at the same time treat them as ends in themselves—as persons whose capacity to choose for themselves must be respected. The moral theory that I think has the strongest…

    • 234 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    God's Supremacy Essay Example
    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages

    God's Supremacy Essay Example

    I guess everybody wants to feel supreme in a manner of feeling above someone every once and a while. See we cannot be Supreme in some manners. At no means in compared to our God. He does though give us authority in to some others in the right circumstances. Like how God gives a Husband authority over his wife. This doesn’t mean you can treat a spouse however you like, but to cherish her like a gift that God has given you. Authority… this word is troublesome to…

    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics