Divine command theory

Where does the Euthyphro dilemma come from?

Plato's dialogue "Euhyphro"

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In the dialogue, Euthyphro take his father to court and Socrates is...

awaiting his own trial

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In the dialogue, Euthyphro and Socrates...

engage in a dialogue about moral goodness

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Socrates poses the question that has become known as...

the Euthyphro dilemma

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The Euthyphro dilemma asks...

does good exist separate from approval, or does good exist as a consequence of being approved by God?

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Divine Command theory arises from...

major world religions (e.g. Judaism, Christianity and Islam)

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Divine Command theory states that God is the...

origin and regulator of morality

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According to DCT, right and wrong are...

objective truths based on God's will/command

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moral goodness is achieved by...

complying with the divine command

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What reasons to be moral does DCT give?

to please God and to avoid bad consequences

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Why is DCT a requirement of God's omnipotence

If God were to command things because they are good, there must exist a standard of goodness independent of God, so God would no longer be creator of everything (so what is good must originate with God and cannot be external from God)

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JAT Robinson "Honest to God" quote

"they (laws) come down direct from heaven and are eternally valid"

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Robert Adams developed DCT to oppose the issue that says...

what God calls good is arbitrary (dependent only on God's will/whim)

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Frankena quote

what if "God were to order the exact opposite of what we generally take him to have ordered"

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Adams states that morality is grounded in the character of God, who is...

perfectly good

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As God has the characteristic of omnibenevolence, Adams argues that...

whatever he commands will reflect this

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Adams is not saying that God and goodness...

are the same thing

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Austin quote

morality is "ultimately grounded in the perfect nature of God"

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Adams concluded that morality cannot be...

arbitrary (as it is rooted in the unchanging omnibenevolent nature of God)

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What is metaphysics?

the study of what cannot be reached through objective studies of material reality

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Religions may argue that there is an objective, metaphysical basis for morality in...

the unseen eternal presence of a creator God

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If God is an objective reality, we should be able to...

test the proposition "God exists" by our five senses, but this is impossible

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If God's commands are an objective reality, they should be...

unchanging, but the Bible seems to suggest otherwise

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If God's commands are true because they reflect his character, this makes moral goodness...

relative to the characater of God

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Name the three main challenges to DCT.

1. Pluralism objection 2. Arbitrariness problem 3. The Euthyprho dilemma

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Divine command theory

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