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Religion and Morality
A. Introduction
- Many people see a very close connection.
- Many ethical terms have religious connotations or origins.
- Religious institutions often endorse certain ethical positions or doctrines.
- Philosophers and others disagree about what the connection is, and whether there even is one.
- We'll only be able to focus on a small number of issues and possible views.
Religion and Morality
A. Introduction
- Relates to other philosophical questions: Is there a true religion? (If so, which one?) Does God exist? Is there an afterlife? Obviously we could spend all semester discussing these.
- Let’s start out by assuming God exists and that God is morally good. Then ask: what is the relationship between God and morality? Still worthwhile to explore even if there is no God.
B. Divine Command Theory
- God is supposed to be superbly good. “Good” is one of the chief words of ethics. This suggests a connection.
- Suppose the connection is very close : Divine Command Theory : a normative ethical theory with two parts: (DCT1) Something is morally good if and only if God approves of it. (Axiological part.)
(DCT2) An act-token X performed by person P at time T is morally right if and only if X is what God commands or desires P to do at time T. (Part dealing with the normative ethics of behavior.)
B. Divine Command Theory
- Example: I just whacked myself in my head with a book. Was that the right thing to do?
If God wished me to do that at this time, then it was.
If God didn't want me to do that at that time, then it wasn't.
- Something like this suggested by: Old Testament (Judaism, Christianity) New Testament (Christianity) Koran (Islam) Elsewhere
C. Two Meta-ethical Perspectives on
Divine Command Theory
- People who agree with DCT can disagree about what makes it true. Here are two possible perspectives:
- The Strong Form : God's approving of it is what constitutes or makes a thing good or an action right.
Morality is nothing more nor less than God's pronouncements, commands and attitudes.
In short, if an action is right, it is right because God commands it.
C. Two Meta-ethical Perspectives on
Divine Command Theory
- The Weak Form: Things are good or actions are right on independent grounds from God's commandments.
It is not God's commandments that make actions right or things good.
Instead, it is because they are right or good that God commands or approves of them.
D. The Euthyphro Problem
- The problem for Strong Divine Command Theory
a) God's commands and attitudes are themselves completely arbitrary. * Whatever God commands or approves of is right.
- It doesn't matter what other features the action has.
b) If God commands me to donate $1000 to the Amherst Survival Center on Easter Sunday, then that is morally right.
However, if God commands me to rape, torture and mutilate my four year old cousin on Easter Sunday, then that is morally right.
D. The Euthyphro Problem
c) Another problem: what do we mean by "God is good”?
Does it just mean "God approves of God”?
Doesn’t it mean something more than this?
d) Analogy: call something "schmood" if and only if Martha Stewart approves of it.
Obviously, Martha Stewart herself is schmood.
If “good” is like “schmood”, why should I care about “good” things more than “schmood” things?
D. The Euthyphro Problem
- The Problem for Weak Divine Command Theory
a) Something else besides God makes things good or bad or actions right or wrong
b) Doesn’t actually show Weak DCT to be false.
c) However, it seems that ethical theory, or moral philosophy, should concern itself with the something else that is more fundamental in morality
d) God’s commandments or scriptures at most a handy guide to help us figure things out that we could figure out other ways.
E. How Helpful is Divine Command
Theory?
- Another problem: DCT2 doesn’t actually tell us what to do in any concrete situations.
We would need to know what God actually commands or desires us to do.
- Can we communicate with God?
Many people think it is possible, directly or indirectly.
But no one thinks it is always easy and straightfoward.
E. How Helpful is Divine Command
Theory?
- Do we need to consult scripture? The Bible, the Torah, the Koran, the Bhagavad Gita, etc.
Which one is right?
- Too many scriptures to discuss individually.
Often take the form of stories or parables, not general criteria for rightness or wrongness.
There are some exceptions.
I’m going to focus on two strands from Judeo-Christian tradition.
F. The Ten Commandments
- From the book of Exodus chap. 20:
(1) “You shall have no other gods before me.”
(2) “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
(3) “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
F. The Ten Commandments
- Cases of wrong acts that do not violate the 10 commandments:
a) Don the lucky Drunk Driver. (Leads to an argument:)
P1. If 10C is true, then Don's act of driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.40 was morally right.
P2. Don's act of driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.40 was not morally right.
C. Therefore, 10C is not true.
b) Other examples: child pornography, internet spamming, public urination, vandalism
F. The Ten Commandments
- Acts do violate the 10 commandments that are not morally wrong:
a) working on the Sabbath to have the money to feed your family
b) stealing from the rich to give to the poor
- Can the 10 commandments be revised or changed to overcome these problems?
Perhaps best to replace them with more general principles that preserve what seems right about them.
G. The Golden Rule
- From many sources, including the Christian Bible:
"In everything, do unto others what you would have them do unto you." (Matthew 7:12)
- Only tells us how to treat others. Doesn’t address other actions. But maybe other actions don’t matter. How about:
(GR) An act-token X performed by person P at time T is morally right if and only if, in performing X, P does not treat anyone else in a way that P would not want that person to treat P.
G. The Golden Rule
- Acts that do not violate the Golden Rule but seem wrong:
a) Consider Pete the Pervert, who loves groping strangers and being groped by strangers.
P1. If GR is true, then Pete's act of groping Grandma Betty at the Holyoke Mall was morally right. P2. Pete's act of groping Grandma Betty at the Holyoke Mall was not morally right. C. Therefore, GR is not true.
b) Other examples involving people imposing their own likes and preferences on other people.
G. The Golden Rule
- Acts that violate the Golden rule but seem right:
a) A doctor who is herself allergic to penicillin but uses penicillin to treat her patients.
b) A hair stylist who gives a customer a haircut that the customer asks for but the hair stylist himself would not want.
- Almost undeniable that there is something right about the Golden Rule. Perhaps it could be reformulated to get around these problems. I invite you to think about that for yourself.
H. What if God Doesn’t Exist?
- We have been assuming that God exists. But what if there is no God?
- Worthwhile to ask even if you are sure God exists.
Sheds light on connection between God and morality to consider what would be different if there were no God.
- Can morality exist without God?
I’ll consider two arguments that answer no to this question.
Read the papers by Mavrodes and Nielsen in your book for a more detailed examination of this issue.
H. What if God Doesn’t Exist?
c) Perhaps there is karma, or "what goes around comes around", even if there is no God. (This calls P1 into question.)
d) Perhaps acting rightly is "its own reward", and we don't need any other motivation. (This calls P2 into question.)
e) Perhaps there is still a difference between right and wrong whether or not any one has any motivation to act rightly. (This calls P3 into question.)
- These are all very difficult issues we can’t discuss fully given time constraints.
