Divine Command Theory
Divine Command Theory is the first moral theory that we looked at. It answers the following three questions:
1) What makes an action right/wrong?
2) How do I know?
3) Why should I care?
1) According to Divine Command Theory what makes an action right or wrong is the commandments of God. Murder is immoral because God commands us to not murder. Giving to charity is morally good because God commands us to give to charity. It is God’s attitude towards a particular action that determines whether or not it is moral
2) In order to know if an action is right or wrong you have to know what God commands about a particular action. Some claim that we can use sacred texts to learn what God thinks about an action. Others might claim that God tells each of us personally what he wants us to do. The important point to note is that in order to know what is right and what is wrong one must know what God commands.
3) The reason one should care about acting morally is because ultimately it is in your self-interest to act morally. Perhaps in this world you can live a happy life being an immoral person. However, in the afterlife you will be punished for your evil actions.
Divine Command Theory restated: Whether an action is right/wrong ultimately depends on what God Commands.
Problems with Divine Command Theory:
1) One problem with the Divine Command Theory is that it presupposes a lot. It presupposes: a) God exists b) God commands us to do certain things and forbids others c) we can know what God commands and what he forbids. If any one of these claims turns out to be false, the Divine Command Theory would not work.
2) Even if we accept all of the above presuppositions, the Divine Command Theory is difficult to work with. What should we do when two people who accept the Divine Command Theory disagree about what God commands? One person might believe that God commands us to fight wars to spread to the word of God. Another person might believe that God commands us to live a passive, peaceful life. What should we do with such a disagreement? Who is right? In order to answer this we would have to know what God thinks about a particular action. This is difficult if not impossible.
3) Logical Problem. One final problem with the Divine Command Theory is a problem raised by Plato. If we modify Plato’s question to fit the Divine Command Theory we can ask: “Is an action good because God commands it, or does God command an action because it is good?” Lets look at the two possibilities.
a) An action is good because God commands it. This entails that no action is right or wrong independent of God’s commandment. God commanded us to not rape other human beings. He could have just as easily commanded us to rape other human beings. According to this interpretation, if God commanded us to rape then rape would become a morally good thing to do! We can also ask “why did God command us to not rape other people”? This view claims that God MAKES morality.
b) God commands an action because he knows it is good. According to this interpretation God recognized that rape was wrong therefore he told us to not rape people. According to this interpretation rape is wrong independent of God’s commandment. Even God could not make rape morally right. Right and wrong exist independent of God and since God is all-knowing he recognizes that certain things are right and certain things are wrong and he commands us to act accordingly. What this really entails is that there is an independent standard of right or wrong that is separate from God. God RECOGNIZES what is right and wrong and commands us to act according to that standard.