Overview
2-page, double-spaced reflection paper
Due date: Friday, March 24
Your paper should exhibit:
A clear (though brief) thesis
The demonstration of critical ability
Organization
Strong grasp of key ideas and issues
Directions: Please write a 2-page, double-spaced paper where you critically reflect on the relationship between God and morality, if God exists. The paper can be more than 2 pages in length, but should not be significantly less than 2 pages.
- Inspired by Socrates’ questions of Euthyphro, we asked “Is an act right because God loves it OR does God love the act because it is right?” The view that an act is right because God loves or favors it is called Divine Command Theory. We called the view that God loves an act because it is right the Competitor Theory. Write an essay in which you examine what is at stake in choosing one view over the other by answering a - e:
- Answer a – e in your paper (using the appropriate letter to indicate your answer):
- Explain why Divine Command Theory entails that nothing is intrinsically, inherently good or bad.
- Explain why Divine Command Theory entails that morality is objective, but arbitrary.
Explain why the Competitor Theory does not entail that morality is arbitrary.
Explain why the Competitor Theory compromises God’s omnipotence.
Which account – Divine Command Theory or the Competitor Theory – do you think is more plausible? Defend your answer.
To help you write your paper, it is highly recommended that you consult “Morality and Religion: Second Assumption: God is the Creator of Morality,” in The Fundamentals of Ethics, by Russ Shafer-Landau, pages 64 – 68. This reading has been made available to you as a PDF.