Counterpossibles and the ‘terrible' divine command deity

In a series of articles in this journal, Wes Morriston has launched what can only be considered a full-scale assault on the divine command theory (DCT) of morality. According to Morriston, proponents of this theory are committed to an alarming counterpossible: that if God did command an annual human...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Davis, Richard Brian 1963- (Author) ; Franks, W. Paul (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Cambridge Univ. Press [2015]
In: Religious studies
Year: 2015, Volume: 51, Issue: 1, Pages: 1-19
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B God / Commandment / Obedience
RelBib Classification:AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism
NBC Doctrine of God
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
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Summary:In a series of articles in this journal, Wes Morriston has launched what can only be considered a full-scale assault on the divine command theory (DCT) of morality. According to Morriston, proponents of this theory are committed to an alarming counterpossible: that if God did command an annual human sacrifice, it would be morally obligatory. Since only a ‘terrible' deity would do such a ‘terrible' thing, we should reject DCT. Indeed, if there were such a deity, the world would be a terrible place - certainly far worse than it is. We argue that Morriston's non-standard method for assessing counterpossibles of this sort is flawed. Not only is the savvy DCT-ist at liberty to reject it, but Morriston's method badly misfires in the face of theistic activism - a metaphysical platform available to DCT-ists, according to which if God didn't exist, neither would anything else.
ISSN:1469-901X
Contains:Enthalten in: Religious studies
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/S003441251400016X