Homework #4

Homework Assignment #4 Responding to the philosophical dilemma of the Euthyphro, the first conclusion “What is moral is not moral because it is commanded by (the) God(s)”, the premises to support this conclusion would be from James Rachel’s chapter, “Does Morality Depend on Religion?” Rachel evidences that “according to Exodus 20:16, God commands us to be truthful. On this option, the reason we should be truthful is simply that God requires it. Apart from the divine command, truth telling is neither good nor bad. It is God’s command that makes truthfulness right”. Rachel is stating that God commands us to be not to be liars and leaving the command on the side, telling the truth is neither good nor bad but it is God’s command to make the truth right. Also, Rachel states that lying would lead to trouble but God could have given us another command. For example, being liars and it would not be a bad thing because God gave us that command. Therefore, he could give us more reasons to command the opposite so, from a point of view of a moral; God’s command is a random choice. Thus, with this conclusion, we are stuck with consequences that even most religious people would find it offensive. The second conclusion “What is moral must be moral because it is commanded by (the) God(s)”, the premises to support this conclusion would be from James Rachel’s chapter, “Does Morality Depend on Religion?” Rachel defines “God, who is infinitely wise, realizes that truthfulness is better than deceitfulness, and so he commands us to be truthful; he sees that killing is wrong, and so he commands us not to kill; and so on for all the moral rules”. Rachel means that God knows what is right for a human being so he commands us to be honest and truthful because he knows that it is wrong. If we take this option, then we would abandon the conception of right and wrong because we are leaving ourselves open to a lack of reasoning. Many religious people opinions are to accept the fact of right