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The Euthyphro Problem

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The Divine Command Theory

  1. An act is morally obligatory if and only if God commands it;
  2. An act is morally wrong if and only if God forbids it; &
  3. An act is morally permissible if and only if God does not forbid it.

 

 

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Is an act wrong because God forbids it

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Does God forbid it because it is wrong?

 

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The Horns of the Dilemma

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Horn 1:  God forbids an action because it is wrong

 

If the Divine Command Theorist takes this horn, she admits that

a.    The wrong actions are wrong prior to God's forbidding them

b.    There is a standard of right and wrong that is independent of God's will.

 

Horn 2: An action is wrong because God forbids it

 

If the Divine Command Theorist takes this horn, she admits that

c.    God's Commands are Arbitrary

d.    Morality is Contingent

e.    God's Goodness is Trivial and Not Praiseworthy

 

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So in saying that things are not good by any rule of goodness, but sheerly by the will of God, it seems to me that one destroys, without realizing it, all the love of God and all his glory.  For why praise him for what he has done if he would be equally praiseworthy in doing exactly the contrary.

G.W. Leibniz, Discourse on Metaphysics (1686)