DCT & Euthyphro's Dilemma

Question 1

DCT

Answer 1

The idea that morals derive from God, there are no standards of behaviour independent of God.

Question 2

Euthyphro’s Dilemma

Answer 2

Is something Good because God ordained it? Or did God ordain it because it was Good?

Question 3

DCT problems

Answer 3

• William of Ockham: god could change his mind
• any act motivated by obedience is morally empty
• linguistic objection: trivial tautology (god commands what god commands)
• pluralism: variety of religions means how can we know which divine commands to follow?

Question 4

Socrates: god commanded it because it was good problems

Answer 4

• there is a standard of goodness independent of god so god is no longer the ultimate standard of authority
• god is no longer supreme
• John Arthur: ‘it seems that God discovers morality rather than inventing it’

Question 5

Divine essentialism

Answer 5

• moral perfection essential to the divine nature
• god is not subject to a higher moral law external of himself
• god acts consistently with his own nature

Question 6

Plato’s response to DCT

Answer 6

Plato says there is a standard of morality independent of God: The forms!

• the command of the Gods can be measured against this standard
• iris murdoch takes a platonic approach

Question 7

Strengths of DCT

Answer 7

1. Impartiality of objective moral standards (Dostoevsky: ‘without God, everything is permitted’)
2. Kant: for morality to work, we need God to be commanding it. Summon bonum requires God and afterlife.
3. Plantinga, Adams defends it
4. Berger says many Jews Muslims and Christians are governed by divine will - likely that there is objective truth?

Question 8

Singer on DCT

Answer 8

Singer: ‘if the Gods had happened to approve of torture or disapprove of helping our neighbours, torture would be good and helping our neighbours bad’

Question 9

Paul Helm on DCT

Answer 9

‘God does issue commands and these commands are to form the basis of a believer’s morality’

Question 10

what does Adams argue about moral responsibility

Answer 10

DCT is compatible with it because we are responsible for obeying or not obeying commands, understanding and applying them

Question 11

what is Adams’ stance on DCT

Answer 11

modified it so that actions and intentions possess a property of ethical wrongness; this property is rooted in the unchanging nature of god, not just stem from his commands

Question 12

Bertrand Russell on the Euthyphro Dilemma

Answer 12

God’s relationship to the moral law can’t be defined coherently:

• if god wills moral laws arbitrarily he can’t be benevolent
• if god wills laws bc they have force, god is no longer omnipotent as he is subject to it