What is Aristotles Euphyphro dilemma?
“Is the pious of holy beloved by the gods because it is holy? Or holy because it is loved by the Gods?
what would it mean if God wills it because it is good?
That there is a standard of value greater than God whcih God is obliged to follow
What would it mean if it is good because God wills it
That right, wrong and by extension morality is an abstrac concept entirely based upon the whims of God.
If he were to order the exact opposite of what we generally accept to be right (for example commanding to kill a baby) then this hypothesis states that would become the right thing to do.
What does Richard Dawkins say about God and morality?
The God of the old testament is… a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic… capriciously malevolent bully”
Who formed Modified Divine command theory and what is it?
Robert Adams
A modern from of divine command theory that states that because morality is rooted in the character of God who is perfectly good, then Gods commands are grounded in Gods character. Whatever he decrees will reflect his omnibenevolent nature
What does Michael W. Austin say about MDC
“The moral law is a feature of Gods nature… God is not subject to an external law, but rather is that moral law. God therefore retains his supreme moral and metaphysical status.”
what is Julian Bagginis’s counter to MDC
“Is Gods nature good because it is good or good because its Gods?”
MDC just dodges the Euphythro dilemma instead of addressing it.
What example does Baggini liken the dilemma to?
The very idea of a mountain is, implies the idea of a great height- so you cant have a mounatin that isnt high, but you can seperate the concept of a mountain with the concept of height in that you can apply it to other things too
“Is being a mountain what makes a landmass high, or is it being high what makes a landmass a mountain”
What does Baggini’s example prove
The answer is the latter, a mountain is a mountain oin virtue of being high; height is not defined ny what a mountain is.
By the same logic, even if God is by definition good, we can still ask if it is through being good that God is by definition good, or whether it is by being a property of God that good is defined as it is.
What Specific problem relateto the nature of God can serve to a counter to MDC
Problem of evil
