Transcript Subjectivism - Western Washington University

divine command theory
THE EUTHYPHRO ARGUMENT
the divine command theory
• The Divine Command Theory (DCT): There are some
objective moral truths. “X is right” means “God approves
of X”. “X is wrong” means “God disapproves of X”.
• The Revised Divine Command Theory (RDCT): There are
some objective moral truths. For every right action X, X is
right because and only because God approves of X. For
any wrong action X, X is wrong because and only because
God disapproves of X.
the divine command theory
the divine command theory
the euthyphro argument
 SOCRATES: Remember, then, that I did not ask you to tell
me one or two of all the many pious actions that there are;
I want to know what is characteristic of piety which makes
all pious actions pious. You said, I think, that there is one
characteristic which makes all pious actions pious, and
another characteristic which makes all impious actions
impious. Do you remember?
 EUTHYPHRO: Well, I should say that piety is what all the
gods love, and that impiety is what they all hate.
 SOCRATES: Now consider this question. Do the gods love
piety because it is pious, or is it pious because they love it?
the euthyphro argument
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Either (a) things are right because God approves of
them or (b) God approves of things because they are
right.
If (a), morality is contingent and God is arbitrary.
Morality is not contingent and God is not arbitrary.
[So] (b).
If (b), then RDCT is false
[So] RDCT is false.