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Divine Command Theory Part II Al-Ashari on Divine Command Theory

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Divine Command Theory Part II Al-Ashari on Divine Command Theory Divine Command Theory Part II Al-Ashari on Divine Command Theory Background: • Al Ash’ari (874-936 CE) was a Muslim theologian and philosopher and the founder of the Asharite school of theology • He believed that the laws of God (Allah) can be discovered through revelation alone • He did not think it not possible for human reason to determine on its own what is good and evil • Why? Humans’ capacity for reasoning and judgment is limited and liable to error Al-Ashari on Divine Command Theory • Al-Alsh’ari emphasizes especially God’s omnipotence (i.e., God’s absolute sovereignty and power) • He can do things that may sometimes surpass our understanding but we must accept them nonetheless • He can, for example, punish the faithful and reward the wicked by granting the latter admission to Paradise and sending the faithful to Hell • Also, regarding some things that normally are considered good (such as the prohibition against lying, murder, theft, adultery, etc.), He has the power to make immoral. His power is absolute and subject to no one. The Mu’tazilites: Al-Ashari’s opponents • The Mu’tazila = “those who withdraw themselves” • School of philosophy that emphasized the use of human reason • Founder: Wasil ibn ‘Ata (700-748 CE) • Originated in Basra (Iraq) • Became the official doctrine of the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad for 30 years • Said that the human intellect can identify the law of God even without the mediation of divine revelation (the Quran) or Prophets (messengers from God) • Note: Al-Ash’ari initially followed this school but later turned against it Kai Nielsen (1926- ) • Canadian philosopher and secular humanist • He adopts some aspects of ethical theories like Aristotle’s • He argues that even if there is no god, morality exists • For example, people still want to be happy • To have that, they need some sort of order in society • That sort of order requires security, mutual respect, and so on More on Kai Nielsen • Unlike al-Ash’ari, Nielsen is an atheist • He opposes Divine Command Theory (DCT) • For many years, Nielsen taught as a professor of philosophy at the University of Calgary and wrote numerous books, including Ethics without God (1990) and Why Be Moral? (1997) • He has also engaged in debates from time to time with defenders of Christianity (see e.g. his 1991 debate with William Lane Craig on “God, Morality, and Evil”) Kai Nielsen: Reason should override Divine Command Theory (DCT) • Use of reason is effective on its own (Enlightenment idea) • Reason should be the same for God and human beings (Kant) • Faith and Reason are compatible (Aquinas) • Natural law can establish moral precepts also Advantages of Divine Command Theory • It provides an objective foundation for morality. • God’s laws, as found in such works as the Ten Commandments, are clear, objective, and unchanging • It gives us a good answer to the question: why be moral? Those who do good will be rewarded, and those who do evil will be punished • If God is the source of human morality, then it is our duty to find out what is His Will and seek to submit to it and carry it out. In that way our acts are moral. • It makes us less liable to mistakes. God did give us reason but our understanding is fallible, so following God’s law safeguards us against human error Disadvantages of Divine Command Theory • It makes morality arbitrary • It is based on obedience, not reason • It wrongly assumes that we can easily identify God’s will and his moral commands (one of Jeremy Bentham’s criticisms) • If God does not exist, He cannot be the source of morality • It cannot work in a pluralistic society where you have people of very different religious beliefs • This theory excludes atheists. For those who do not believe in God, it does not seem necessary for them to live morally unless there be some other source of morality • It cannot escape the Euthyphro dilemma (Euthyphro 10a-11b): Is the holy (i.e., the good) loved by the gods because it is holy (good), or is it holy (good) because it is loved by the gods? If God makes these laws because they are good, it implies that there is an external standard of goodness, challenging His omnipotence .
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