For example, one of the Ten Commandments ‘Thou shall not kill’ should not be broken and is applied to situations such as the death penalty or abortion. This links to the divine command theory. This is a meta-ethical theory which proposes that what is moral is determined by God and that to be moral is to follow his commands. This theory claims that morality is ultimately based on God and the right action is the one that God requires. The divine commands vary in religions but in the end, they all have in common that moral obligations depend on God.
Plato discussed the question of God being good. To say that God is good, a means of comparing God to something external call good must exist. Plato used this argument in Euthyphro1. A morally perfect being always chooses the good action over the evil one. In order to be morally perfect both good and evil must exist outside of God so that he can choose it.
The first way is Aquinas’ attempt to prove God’s existence based on logic and observations in nature. He was confident this reasonable explanation could help people who can not accept or believe in God based on faith alone. Aquinas believed this argument from ‘motion’ and the necessity of a ‘prime mover are strong logical reasons which demonstrate the absolute existence of God as the Divine Being. It is through the arguments of Aristotle’s ‘presence of change in the world,’ that Aquinas in
Explain the theory of duty in Kantian Ethics (25 marks) Kantian ethics is an absolutist theory as Kant claimed what is morally ‘good’ is constant and unchanging. Because of this, it can be a universal concept applied in different societies and cultures with the idea that an action should only be performed for duty’s sake. His approach was deontological because the idea of right or wrong was based on the action rather than the consequence, he believed that this was the only rational basis for morality and could be proven objectively, independent from emotion and opinion. As humans we have the innate ability to reason, something which we gained prior to any sensory experience in this world. This is an idea which is absolute and according to Kant, the way we decide the morality of an action.
The Euthyphro dilemma poses criticisms to which I will clarify from a gods command perspective that acts are only good because a perfect and all-knowing god commands it. Also the criticism that the consequences for moral acts can motivate people to fulfil self-interests taking away the focus that gods commands are upholding the moralities definition of good, regardless of self-interests. The Divine Command Theory (DCT) inserts the premise that moral actions are moral through god’s command and because they are commanded by god it is objectively moral regardless of our own interpretations of morality. The interpretations of morality is commonly defined as what is ‘good’ and what is ‘bad’ or ‘what a person ought to do’ and it is easy to see that to achieve good or bad or comply with actions that a person ought to do, a god of any sort would make no difference to how an individual’s actions will arrive to this moral definition (Ethics, Massey University, 2013). However, DCT defines morality and a god’s command is needed when distinguishing the value of the moral actions because the value of good can be taken in any form and not all uses of the term ‘good’ would lead to a moral action.
i) Analyse the key features of Natural Moral Law [18] The basis of Natural Moral Law is rooted ion Ancient Greece and the thinking of the stoics. Further developed by Aquinas in the 13tgh century, he fused Aristotle’s original thinking and his faith in Catholicism which resulted in the recognisable form we are familiar with today. We generally consider Aquinas to be the main exponent of Natural Law. The theory is deontological and is therefore concerned with the action itself as opposed to the consequences that may be caused. Furthermore, Natural Moral Law is absolute in its nature because it allows no exceptions to its rules and can be applied universally.
It is important to note that although all moral absolutists agree that there are fundamental ethical laws they disagree on the origin or authority of these laws. They may be religious or like Kantian ethics based on God and the existence of natural law. In general there tends to be a consensus that Absolutism comes in three distinct types. Platonic Idealism is the first significant example of absolutist theory. This theory is referred to as the theory of forms, the forms are eternal constants which give meaning to the world.
When we fail to follow our duty, we are behaving immorally or in a utilitarianism manner. Typically in any deontological system, our duties, rules, and obligations are determined by God. Being moral is thus a matter of obeying God. Cline, Austin, 2011, Deontology and Ethics: What is Deontology, Deontological Ethics? http://atheism.about.com/od/ethicalsystems/a/Deontological.htm The ideas in certain situations like “let the ends justify the means,” is commonly accepted.
Absolute Law comes from God and has been set so that we all may follow. They are unchanging and this is what makes us the perfect Christians. Duty to God comes first then the Duty to others before duty to property. This will be the way to make decisions if there is an absolute conflict. But also Absolutism does not take other situation into consideration, things change and people change, so should the rules change as well?
Divine Command Theory Divine Command Theory can be described as what are right are whatever God commands, and whatever God forbids is wrong. Being truthful is what some believe that God says is right, but being truthful is the moral think to do (Rachel’s and 50-53). Not, because God says so but, because society says that people must be truthful to be successful and the reach their goals. The advantages to this Theory is that it gives motive to people to be moral which means people are listening to the sayings of God. God faring people accept the teachings of God and the best way to live.