Ethical Objectivity Require God By Shafer-Landau's Analysis
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Shafer-Landau argues in his paper, “Does Ethical Objectivity Require God,” that a theist’s best option is to reject the Divine Command Theory. Divine Command Theory states that an action is morally right because God commands humans to perform the action. Divine Command Theory also states that an action is morally wrong because God prohibits humans from performing the action. Divine Command Theory does not directly define if an action is morally right or wrong. An example of Divine Command Theory is that because God commands humans to attend school, it is the morally right thing to do and that skipping school is the morally wrong action. Although a theist believes that a morally good God exists, there are reasons why a theist should reject the idea…show more content… The only two answers to this question are that God does have a reason to command an action or God does not have a reason to command an action. Regardless of if God has a reason or not, Shafer-Landau explains why Divine Command Theory is ultimately false. Looking at the first answer, if God does have a reason to command humans to perform an act then Divine Command Theory is false. The reason for why God commands a certain action is what makes the action morally right. The action is not morally right because God commands the action. An example of this would be the action of keeping a promise. If God commands promise keeping because it is the right thing to do and it betters the world, then the reason it is morally right is not because God commands it. Rather it is morally right because it is the right thing to do and it betters the world. The action is morally right because of the reason God uses to command the action. Because the reason is what makes the action right, and not because God commands it then Divine Command Theory is ultimately