Does Cahn deny the existence of God?
Cahn denies the existence of God. To say that good is whatever God commands, Cahn argues, is to lose the possibility of meaningfully praising God’s goodness.
What is Steven Cahn’s argument about God and morality?
He argues that God’s existence is no guide to what’s right and wrong. It’s not a moral compass. And he argues that morality doesn’t depend on God for its justification. As Cahn concludes, “regardless of our religious commitments, the moral dimension of our lives remains to be explored.”
Is morality independent of God?
God approves of right actions because they are right and disapproves of wrong actions because they are wrong (moral theological objectivism, or objectivism). So, morality is independent of God’s will; however, since God is omniscient He knows the moral laws, and because He’s moral, He follows them.
What is the divine perfection argument?
What is the divine perfection argument? 1. If the Divine command theory is true, then a morally perfect God could have created a perfect world that required us to rape, steal, and kill. 2. A morally perfect God couldn’t issue such commands and anyone who did so would be morally imperfect.
What is the deepest problem with saying God wills it because it is good?
However, the first option (i.e. God commands it because it is good) has one serious problem. It sets up a standard of goodness separate from God. That is, it makes God a middle man. This is a problem because most monotheists believe God is the omnipotent source of all goodness.
Does God will it because it is good or is it good because God wills it?
If good acts are willed by God because they are morally good, then they must be good before and independent of God’s willing them. God’s will does not make it good. Rather, it’s being good is the reason why God wills it. The other answer leads to a different difficulty.
What charge is euthyphro bringing forward and against who?
Euthyphro: pressing charges against his father for murder. A servant killed another one of the slaves and so the father tied the servant up and left him in a ditch to ask for help and in the process the servant died. What is Socrates point at 6d-e?
What does the euthyphro problem show us about God and ethics?
The first horn of the dilemma posed by Socrates to Euthyphro is that if an act is morally right because God commands it, then morality becomes arbitrary. Given this, we could be morally obligated to inflict cruelty upon others. On the Modified Divine Command Theory, the moral law is a feature of God’s nature.