The Divine Command Theory Is False
Student #: 14111505
Divine Command Theory is False
According to the Divine Command Theory morality depends upon religion in the following sense: Morally right actions are morally right because God commands us to perform them, and morally wrong actions are morally wrong because God forbids us from performing them. In other words, the Divine command theory is the view that morality is somehow dependent upon God, and that moral obligation consists in obedience to God’s commands. My goal is to prove that the Divine Command Theory is false because of the belief argument and the Euthyphro dilemma.
The first problem that stands out to me is the belief argument. This argument says that if DCT is true, then morality exists only if God exists. …show more content…
Prior to God’s commands, nothing was right or wrong. Morality simply did not exist. The first option says that God commands actions because they are right. This implies that God did not invent morality, but rather recognized an existing moral law and then commanded us to obey it. But God created everything. Therefore, he created morality. So, this makes the first option impossible.
The second option, that God commands something because it is right and that is obvious to Him in His infinite wisdom, avoids the arbitrariness of the previous option, but introduces a new problem which takes us back to the beginning: if God commands something because it is right, then in accepting that argument you have abandoned a theological concept of right and wrong, that it would be right whether or not God commands it. Each of these cases will lead the believer in the divine command theory into morally uncomfortable …show more content…
Lets suppose that God really did forbid us from torturing others. God must have had very good reasons for doing so. Assuming that God based His decision on the fact that torture is extremely painful is humiliating, and so on are what make torture immoral. Since God knows everything, God knows what is vile about torture and, in His love for us, orders us not to attempt such actions. God sees that an action such as torture is immoral. God also sees perfectly that such things as kindness and compassion are good, and then issues the divine commands on the basis of this flaw-less insight. This depiction preserves God’s truthfulness and it proves God’s authorship of the moral
Divine Command Theory is False
According to the Divine Command Theory morality depends upon religion in the following sense: Morally right actions are morally right because God commands us to perform them, and morally wrong actions are morally wrong because God forbids us from performing them. In other words, the Divine command theory is the view that morality is somehow dependent upon God, and that moral obligation consists in obedience to God’s commands. My goal is to prove that the Divine Command Theory is false because of the belief argument and the Euthyphro dilemma.
The first problem that stands out to me is the belief argument. This argument says that if DCT is true, then morality exists only if God exists. …show more content…
Prior to God’s commands, nothing was right or wrong. Morality simply did not exist. The first option says that God commands actions because they are right. This implies that God did not invent morality, but rather recognized an existing moral law and then commanded us to obey it. But God created everything. Therefore, he created morality. So, this makes the first option impossible.
The second option, that God commands something because it is right and that is obvious to Him in His infinite wisdom, avoids the arbitrariness of the previous option, but introduces a new problem which takes us back to the beginning: if God commands something because it is right, then in accepting that argument you have abandoned a theological concept of right and wrong, that it would be right whether or not God commands it. Each of these cases will lead the believer in the divine command theory into morally uncomfortable …show more content…
Lets suppose that God really did forbid us from torturing others. God must have had very good reasons for doing so. Assuming that God based His decision on the fact that torture is extremely painful is humiliating, and so on are what make torture immoral. Since God knows everything, God knows what is vile about torture and, in His love for us, orders us not to attempt such actions. God sees that an action such as torture is immoral. God also sees perfectly that such things as kindness and compassion are good, and then issues the divine commands on the basis of this flaw-less insight. This depiction preserves God’s truthfulness and it proves God’s authorship of the moral