Challenges to DCT

• The two options of the Euthyphro dilemma


  • Is what God commands good because it is good (1st horn)
  • Is it good because God commands it? (2nd horn)
• God's Omnibenevolence


  The idea that God is perfectly good
• The Euthyphro dilemma shows that there are two ways we could understand God being perfectly good.
• 1st horn


  What God commands is intrinsically good independently of God. This suggests that God is perfectly good because he perfectly follows an intrinsic good moral standard that is separate from God.
• The problem with the 1st horn is that it leads to an apparent conflict with omnipotence, since this external moral standard is beyond God's power to control.
• 2nd horn


  It is God's act of commanding something that makes it good. This suggests that God is perfectly good because perfectly good is whatever God commands it to be.
• The problem with the 2nd horn is that it leads to the arbitrariness problem, that God could change his mind about what is good.
• The first horn leads to a conflict with God's omnipotence.
• The second horn (Divine command theory) leads to the arbitrariness problem.
• God does change his mind. There seems to be evidence in the bible of God changing his mind about the moral code we need to live by.
• Christians tend to respond to this by claiming that this was not God changing his mind, it was simply God changing the covenant he had with humans.
• Pluralism objection


  The issue that there are multiple religions and many more have existed in the past and there are potentially an infinite number that we could invent. Even if we accepted divine command theory, how could we possibly know which God is real, and so which divine commands are the right ones?
• The pluralism objection can be developed by pointing to the possibility of an infinite number of interpretations of the Bible.
• Response to the Pluralism objection can involve attempting to prove that a particular religion like Christianity is true, or simply accepting pluralism - the view that all religions are just different cultural manifestations of the divine, therefore all are true.
• It's hard to see how all religions could be true given their incompatible truth claims, however.
• Examples of immoral commands in the Bible


  • "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be quiet."
  • "If a man lies with a man as he does with a woman, both have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death, their blood is upon them."
  • "The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their pregnant women ripped open."
  • "Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ."
  • "Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property."
• Richard Dawkins sums up these immoral commands as "The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction … [a] bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser … misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal"
• Liberal Christians solve this issue through a subjective theory of inspiration – accepting that the Bible is the product of the human mind, not the perfect word of God. However, that means the Bible cannot be used as a list of divine commands and so cannot help the divine command theorist.
• What is Euthyphro‘s dilemma?

  • A question on the foundation of ‘goodness’
  • Horn 1: has God commanded something because it is good
  • Horn 2: is something good because God has commanded it?
• How does Horn 1 of Euthyphro‘s dilemma challenge DCT?

  • Challenges God’s omnipotence (his power is trivial)
  • implies God follows a moral standard that is separate from him - God is not necessary for morality, someone else higher decides what’s right/wrong
  • This external moral standard would be beyond God’s control - He is not omnipotent.
• How does Horn 2 of Euthypro’s dilemma challenge DCT? (arbitrariness problem)

  • Challenges God’s omnibenevolence
  • ’Objectivity’ of morality is dependent on God
  • Arbitrariness problem: God could change his mind about what is good or could command anything to be good - i.e genocide
• What is an argument that strengthens the arbitrariness problem? (also a critique to Adam’s modified DCT)

  • God does change his mind. 
  • There‘s evidence in the bible of God changing his mind about the moral code we need to live by.
  • Jesus, in the sermon on the mount, changed some of the old testament laws – e.g. ‘eye for an eye’ into ‘turn the other cheek’.
• How do Christians respond to the notion that God does change his mind?

  • claim that that this was not God changing his mind,
  • it was God changing the covenant he had with humans from the restrictive one he had only with the Jewish tribe to the expanded covenant enabled by Jesus’ sacrifice which became open to all people.
  • It was a change in covenant – not in God’s mind
• What is the issue of the grounding of God’s goodness?

  • Attempts to solve the Euthyphro dilemma by appealing to God’s intrinsic loving nature are vulnerable to the issue of accounting for why God’s nature is good.
  • The Euthyphro dilemma is trying to get to the bottom of why/what it is that makes God’s commands good.
  • If the answer is God’s nature, then the question becomes why is God’s nature good or what is it that makes God’s nature good?
  • This move by philosophers like Aquinas and Adams arguably merely kicks the can down the road.
• What is the Pluralism Objection?

  • There a multiple religions - how do we know which God is real and which divine command is right?
  • Hume - all the different religions have different divine commands - cancel each other out
  • Infinite number of interpretations in the Bible, you could justify anything - there’s pluralism in just Christianity
• What are some of the responses to the Pluralism Objection?

  • Different religions are just different cultural manifestations of the divine - all true.
  • William James: mystical religious experiences in all religions means they’re all true
  • Hick: different religions are like blind men touching different parts of an elephant - claim to feel something different but are blind to see that it’s all part of the same thing
  • Main commands of all religions is to be righteous and loving - that’s the command we should follow.
• Explain the problem of immoral commands in the Bible

  • The Bible seems full of commands that are immoral
  • Promotes killing, injustices against women, homophobia and slavery.
• Examples of immoral commands in the Bible

  • Leviticus 20:13: ‘If man lies with man […] they shall surely be put to death
  • Ephesians 6:5: ‘Slaves obey your earthly masters.’
  • 1 Timothy 2:12: ‘I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man. She must be quiet.’
  • Abraham and Isaac.
• What are some responses to the immoral commandments?

  Liberal Christians: Subjective theory of inspiration - the Bible is a product of the human mind + not the perfect word of God.

  HOWEVER, this means that DCT/ the Bible cannot be used as a list of divine commands.