1. Divine Command Theories of Ethics

2. Overview
We will consider three different accounts of the relationship between religion and reason in ethics:
Religion takes priority over reason:
Divine command theories
Teleological suspension of the ethical
Compatibilist theories
Autonomy of reason theories

3. Divine Command Theories
These theories claim that something is right because God wills it.
Augustine and the voluntarist tradition
Clear in Islam, where the will of Allah is the measure of all that is right
Also characteristic of much of fundamentalism in all religions.

4. Criticisms of Divine Command Theories
How can we know God’s will?
Does divine command theory undermine human autonomy?
Can be used to subjugate the masses.

5. Abraham and Isaac
In the old Testament, God commands Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac.

6. The Story of Abraham Genesis, 22:1-10
And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

7. The Story of Abraham Genesis, 22:11-19
And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen. And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

8. The Issue
God’s command that Abraham should kill his only son as a sacrifice to God seems to go against reason and morality
The issue: can God ask us to do things that go against reason and morality? Which takes precedence, God’s command or reason?

9. The Teleological Suspension of the Ethical
According to Søren Kierkegaard, sometimes it is necessary to suspend the ethical for the sake of God

10. Søren Kierkegaard
Kierkegaard sought to heighten the tension between faith and reason, rather than try as Hegel had done to minimize it.
The case of Abraham in Fear and Trembling
Either/Or

11. Compatibilist Theories
Compatibilist theories say that reason and religion can never contradict one another
Strong: they are saying the same thing
Weak: they say different things, but not contradictory things

12. Strong Compatibilism
G. W. F. Hegel thought that reason and religion could be completely reconciled.
Religion presents same truths as reason, but under a different form, as myth rather than as reason.

13. Weak Compatibilism
Thomas Aquinas believed that reason and faith could never contradict one another, but faith may reveals truths beyond the react of reason.

14. Supremacy of Reason
Bertrand Russell thought that religion was simply wrong, and reason was the role guide for action.

15. Rationalistic Theists
Immanuel Kant believed in God, but felt that even God was subject to the dictates of reason.

16. Criticisms of Autonomy of Reason Theories
The heritage of the Enlightenment: belief in reason and autonomy and individualism
Challenges to the Enlightenment belief:
Human acts of irrationality: the Holocaust, enslavement of African-Americans, etc.

17. A Crucial Distinction Distinguish two questions:
Content. Can reason provide us with adequate guidelines about how we should act? The answer appears to be “yes.”
Motivation. Can reason provide us with adequate motivation to do the right thing? Here the answer appears to be “no.”

18. Possible Relationships between Religion and Reason in Ethics
Supremacy of Religion
Compatibilist Theories
Supremacy of Reason
Strong version
All morality based on divine commands
Fundamentalism
Reason and religion are identical
Hegel
Ethics based only on reason; atheistic or agnostic
Russell
Weak version
Teleological Suspension of the Ethical
Kierkegaard
Reason and religion may be different but do not conflict
Aquinas
Even God must follow dictates of reason
Kant

19. The Role of Religion in the Moral Life
Key question: Is religion harmful or helpful to the moral life?

20. Religion as Harmful to the Moral Life
Karl Marx: Religion as the opiate of the masses, used to enslave them
For Marx, religion was only a tool for oppression.

21. Religion as Harmful to the Moral Life
Friedrich Nietzsche
The Death of God
Nihilism
Slave morality and resentiment

22. Religion as Transcendence
Supporters of religion point out the way in which the religious consciousness allows individuals to transcend the oppression of their times.
Oscar Romero of El Salvador

23. Religion and Ultimate Justice
Is religion necessary to insure ultimate justice, that those who suffer in this world will be recompensed and that those who gain in this world through treachery will be punished in the next?