PHIL 160 Metaethics Lecture 3 Outline of Last Lecture I Key topics of Ethics a Main elements of ethics i Ethical judgements must e backed by reasons ii Theories principles and specific judgments iii Judgments about actions b Assessing theories according to their implications Outline of Current Lecture I II Examples from last lecture assessing theories according to their implications The two views of the connection between divine commands and morality a What is right is what God commands because what God commands determines what is right b What is right is what God commands because God is an infallible guide to morality III Why secular ethics a 4 reasons Current Lecture I Assessing theories according to their implications examples a Consider the following theory An act is right if and only if it helps someone i This theory might sound o k initially ii But it is a bad theory because many acts of helping are wrong 1 Stealing helps the thief 2 Nepotism helps a family member undeservedly b Consider the following theory an act is right if and only if it is what the person s conscience told him or her to do i This theory might sound o k initially ii But is has very unacceptable implications since a person s conscience might tell him or her to do something very bad 1 Example Nazi party c Consider the following theory An act is right if and only if it is fitting and appropriate in the circumstance i This theory might sound o k initially These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute ii But it is a bad theory as stated because the phrase fitting and appropriate in the circumstances is so vague Key Topics 1 The two views of the connection between divine commands and morality 2 Why secular ethics I Ethics based on religion a For thousands of years people have been interested in transcendent questions such as i Where do we come from ii Do our lives have meaning What is the meaning of life iii What happens after we die b Religious traditions have been established and developed to respond to people s concern with these perennial questions c People have also turned to religion as a source of moral guidance i divine right of kings ii people believed for a long time that the reason why countries were governed by kings queens is because God wanted it that way iii God told me to go to for moral justification for behavior d This has been especially tempting in the case of religions that say there is a divine being who is all of the following i All powerful ii All knowing iii Benevolent e Then it is very natural to think that acting morally is just a matter of conforming to the commands of this divine being II Ethics and God a Consider the following claim i What is right is what God commands b This can be understood In either of two ways opposing views i What is right is what God commands because what God commands determines what is right ii What is right is what God commands because God is an infallible guide to morality 1 When God chooses to disclose things to us it must be good c Plato made this distinction more than 2 400 years ago in this dialogue called Euthyphro i Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious or is it pious because it is loved by the gods III God as the determiner of morality a Consider the view that what is right is what God commands because what God commands determines what is right b This is what we will call divine command theory c Many people believe that this view is unsatisfactory because it implies that if God were to command someone to blow up a building full of innocent people then that action would thereby be right d In other words it implies that there is no apparently wrong action that it could not be made right just by God commanding it i Whatever god commands makes in morally right IV God is morally infallible a Consider the alternative view what is right is what God commands because God is an infallible guide to morality i This avoids the problems of divine command theory because it does not claim that if god were to command some awful behavior that it would automatically make it right ii The main concern that proponents of that view have with the infallible guide view is that it denies God s role as the determiner of morality V Which view is more to the credit of God a Divine command theory makes God s knowledge or morality no achievement since on that view morality is just something that god made up however he wanted b Proponents of the alternative view claim that regarding God as an infallible guide to morality is actually ore to God s credit i infallible VI Which view is reflected in What would questions a What would Brian Boitano do i Guide not determiner reject divine command theory VII Why secular ethics a Even if we reject divine command theory that leaves room for the idea that God is an infallible guide to morality b Then we might think this i To be moral we should see that God commands of us ii Ethics would best be done as a branch of theology iii Learn everything there is to know about god brain psychology and then you should know how to answer all questions and how to act c Given this possibility why should we be interested in secular ethics i secular non religious 1 Many people do not believe in God 2 Many people who believe in God do not believe that any religious tradition has proved itself capable of reliably discerning God s commands 3 Many people who believe in God believe that God gave us reason and goodness in order to see for ourselves what is right and wrong 4 Many people who believe in God and identify what a particular religious tradition still choose to assess that tradition s oral instruction secularly a For example many Catholics have reflected carefully on the church s prohibition on birth control and believe it is not immoral to violate that prohibition b Similarly many Jewish believe it is not really morally required to abstain from baking doing laundry and watching TV one day each week