In his work Practical Ethics Singer proposes a version of the Euthyphro dilemma to criticise a divine command theory of ethics, Some theists say that ethics cannot do without religion because the very meaning of “good” is nothing other than “what God approves”. Plato refuted a similar view more than two thousand years ago by […]
Entries from October 31st, 2007
The Euthyphro Objection Part II: Arbitrariness
October 31st, 2007 4 Comments
Tags: Divine Command Theory · Ethics · Euthyphro Dilemma · God and Morality · James Rachels · Mane Hajdin · Peter Singer · Philosophy of Religion · Roy Perrett
The Euthyphro Objection Part I: Against Divine Commands & Avoiding Strawmen
October 28th, 2007 2 Comments
Perhaps the most common argument against an appeal to divine commands in ethical reasoning is the Euthyphro dilemma, first articulated by Plato and utilised by numerous critics of divine commands ever since. A representative example of this line of argument occurs in Peter Singer’s widely-acclaimed monograph Practical Ethics. In the first chapter of Practical Ethics, […]
Tags: Divine Command Theory · Edward Weirenga · Ethics · Euthyphro Dilemma · God and Morality · John Hare · Peter Singer · Philip Quinn · Philosophy of Religion · Robert Adams · William Alston
Abortion and Capital Punishment and Craig Young
October 25th, 2007 8 Comments
An acquaintance of mine sent me a copy of this article at Gaynz.com by Craig Young. Craig and I have a kind of knack at studying the very same topics at the same time. He wrote a PhD thesis criticising conservative Christian views on abortion around the same time I started writing my PhD thesis […]
Tags: Abortion · Bad Reasoning · Capital Punishment · Craig Young · Feticide · Jim Peron · NAMBLA
Spot the Difference
October 25th, 2007 5 Comments
A few weeks ago wide publicity was given to a study that concluded that NZ women are the most promiscuous in the world. (The fact that, this study had some serious scientific shortcomings having neither a control group nor a random sample group was not so widely publicised.) What was interesting was the reaction by […]
Tags: Sexual Morality
What we can learn from the police raids
October 19th, 2007 3 Comments
The recent raids on various anarchist, environmentalist and Maori sovereignty activists of this week have thrown up some issues which its worth reflecting on. The police allege that several activists up and down the country were involved in some kind of armed insurgency against the government. (Given the far left ideology these people hold this […]
Tags: Due Process
Were the Urban Legends True?
October 17th, 2007 3 Comments
It was 1989, despite the howling winds, sleet and freeze all around us I felt secure and warm in the sleeping bag my parents had bought me. Our tent was pitched on the slopes of Mt Rupaehu white out conditions had ensued and a blustering wind raged outside. I was one of several teenage boys […]
Tags: Race Relations · Terrorism
Dissecting the Family First Forum
October 15th, 2007 2 Comments
Today I took the day off work and Matt and I headed to the Family First Forum. It was a worthwhile day out, all the speakers were great. What was especially impressive was the diversity of the speakers and the range of worldviews and political persuasions – this was an impression I formed even before […]
Tags: Forum on the Family
A common objection to belief in the God of the Bible is that a good, kind, and loving deity would never command the wholesale slaughter of nations. In the tradition of his popular Is God a Moral Monster?, Paul Copan teams up with Matthew Flannagan to tackle some of the most confusing and uncomfortable passages of Scripture. Together they help the Christian and nonbeliever alike understand the biblical, theological, philosophical, and ethical implications of Old Testament warfare passages.
