Ryan 2
4 December 2022
Introduction to Ethics Signature Assignment
Divine command theory: The view that you are required to perform an action if and only if (and because) your performance of such acts is commanded by God (Cahn).
Introduction: define divine command theory, give a brief synopsis of the Euthyphro problem. Is an action wrong because God forbids it or does God forbid it because it is wrong?
Thesis: In order to gain a full understanding of divine command theory, I will analyze Socrates’ Euthyphro dilemma and ask the question, “are our actions right because God deems them so, or are they right because God himself knows them to be right?”
Cahn, Steven M., et al. Exploring Ethics: An Introductory Anthology. Fifth ed., Oxford University Press, 2020.
Koons, J. “Can God’s Goodness Save the Divine Command Theory from Euthyphro?”. European Journal for Philosophy of Religion, vol. 4, no. 1, Mar. 2012, pp. 177-95, doi:10.24204/ejpr.v4i1.313.