Preview

As clearly and carefully as you can

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1314 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
As clearly and carefully as you can
Voluntarists and non-voluntarists have had intense debate on the issue of religion and morality. The underlying central argument of the debate is whether the morality requires a religious foundation or not. While the voluntarists claim that morality does require a religious foundation, non-voluntarists assert that it doesn’t. David Brink and George Mavrodes argues with this theme of voluntarist and non-voluntarist. My essay will largely focus on the strengths and weakness of both voluntarists and non-voluntarists associating with Mavrodes and Brink’s idea on this issue.

Voluntarists are the people who insist that it is the will or the attitude of god that determines morality and its qualities, while the non-voluntarists argue that moral properties depend on their nature and that these exist without god’s existence. With the argument of god’s will and thus the morality, voluntarists centralize their position on the notion that morality depends on religion. That is, moral values consist in God’s attitude. On the contrary, non-voluntarists don’t presuppose a god. Although non-voluntarists deny theism and a metaphysical role of the god in morality, which the voluntarists agree on, they don’t reject that god play an epistemic role, which god telling us reliably what is morally good and bad, or motivational role in morality, which god providing divine incentives for moral behavior. The logic behind voluntarism and naturalism can be explained using Socrates’ label. Voluntarism argues that something is pious, because the god loves it, while non-voluntarists argue that something is loved by the gods, because it is pious. Voluntarists put strong focus on god’s will that determines what is piety or not while non voluntarists think it is the very nature that determines piety of something. What Brink argues in his essay “The Autonomy of Ethics” is that non-voluntarists seek the autonomy of morality, a notion that implies that the objectivity of ethics demand the autonomy of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    One prominent scholar named Stark in the past had opened up new data to the author Reginald Bibby, the author of this book, giving him his new book idea: the reality of religious polarization. The book has been divided up into 9 chapters, all very informative, coming from a polarized lens, focusing on all aspects of those who are religious, and those who are not.…

    • 837 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Week 1 Study Guide

    • 591 Words
    • 3 Pages

    1) According to Basic Ethics, those who believe in religious connection to ethics and morality “there is an independent source of goodness that exists in some other (supernatural) realm” (Boylan, 2009, p. 58).…

    • 591 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the Euthyphro dilemma, Socrates questions how Euthyphro can be so certain of what actions are considered pious. Socrates asks Euthyphro the important question if “Gods love piety because it is pious, or is it pious because they love it?” (Timmons 27) Put simply, are God’s commands right because God commanded them or did God command them because they are right? In what follows, I will explain what unrestricted divine command theory tries to accomplish, why Euthyphro’s dilemma poses a few significant problems to its views, and I will argue how embracing a restricted version of divine command theory can help avoid the obstacles the dilemma sets in place.…

    • 1305 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Divine Command Theory

    • 1962 Words
    • 8 Pages

    People are extremely motivated by self-interest, even as societies have evolved and grown larger. While the more intertwined societies did lead to a greater need for cooperation in order to live as peacefully as possible, the need to follow the rules of that society can still be ignored when self-interests are present. The need to live by a set of moral rules is well explained by connecting God and morality. As God holds a person accountable, following the moral rules is now is that person’s interest. So even while the person may act according to society, the actions are still explained by the incentives and sanctions placed by God with the promise of Heaven and the threat of Hell, respectively. However, the Divine Command Theory falls short by basing morality solely on God’s commands. Morality then seems subject to God’s whims, which makes morality arbitrary. The opposing view counters strongly with the existence of morals within atheists. For if morals are based only on God’s will, then atheists must be godless brutes lacking any semblance to a moral compass. The morality of atheists is clearly evident, yet the argument failed to establish a reason for morals other acknowledging damage done to the…

    • 1962 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Because of this dilemma, philosophers have tried to create a secular ethic in order to avoid it. But, according to Kai Nielsen, “Religious morality… may have its difficulties, but secular morality, religious apologists argue, has still greater difficulties.” He then explains that without some great consequence, or without any bigger purpose for living morally, then there would be no reason to live morally, or to even define what morality consists…

    • 532 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The five people you meet in heaven is about a man names Eddie who works at Ruby Pier being a maintenance worker. Eddie spent most of his life at Ruby Pier. Eddie died trying to save a young girl from getting hurt by a falling cart. Instead of the girl getting crushed by the cart Eddies does. When Eddie goes to heaven he meets five people that teaches him different lessons. There are a couple of themes but the one theme that stuck out to me was the importance of “Forgiveness”.…

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Monotheism vs. Polytheism

    • 1585 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In most polytheistic religions, although not defined, the notion of good and bad conduct is present. This notion of good and bad conduct, or right and wrong conduct, is evidence of morality in polytheism. For example, in Hinduism there is what is known as PAP and PUNYA. PAP means penalty for bad behavior, and PUNYA means credit for deeds. PAP and PUNYA assist in determining a follower’s karma; karma determines one’s life form in the next life. (Fisher SOMETIME). The existence of morality is also evident in that there are certain gods whom have such titles as ‘sustainer,’ ‘judge,’ and ‘protector of morals.’ For instance in Vedic Hinduism, a religion no longer practiced, one of the many gods known as Varuna was described as an “omniscient God…

    • 1585 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Rudolf Otto and Paul Tillich both construct distinct understandings of religion and its properties. Tillich focuses on ideals such as ultimate concern and ultimate reality. However, Otto focuses on the holy and experiences in relation to the individual. For Otto, the numinous is the pinnacle along with the holy. Furthermore, Otto draws from the rational versus non-rational point of view and is a Christian theologian. Tillich on the other hand pinpoints on personal drive and seriousness.…

    • 1186 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In this essay I intend to give an account of the ‘Divine Command’ theory of morality, outline it’s main objections, in particular with regard to the ‘Euthyphro Dilemma’ and whether these objections can be answered.…

    • 1518 Words
    • 44 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Faith and religion. With so many religion and ways to view faith, it is difficult to see how we should understand them. This essay will compare two different ways to view religion in the form of analyzing two works. First, Bertrand Russell’s Why I am not a Christian explains straight forward way of thinking where if reason fails, then it cannot be. Terry Eagleton’s Reason, Faith and Revolution views religion and faith in more spiritual way. He explains that faith is deeper than reason. Both of these views will come short and it is actually combination of these that is the correct view of faith and religion.…

    • 1934 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    |moral and religious tenets with modern life, political competition, and free markets." What these "supposed fanatics" really want,|…

    • 3480 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    What is the good life and how does one achieve it? This is a question that has been brought to the attention of many philosophers over human history. It can be reasonably argued that the modern person, especially westerners, consider income to be an important part to living the good life. There is little question anymore that income and happiness are indeed correlated in some ways, but does one have to attain wealth in order to be happy, to live the good life? Can a person think of themselves as “living the good life” even though they may be of a more austere status? Does wealth even really matter at all? This paper will aim to argue the point that attaining the good life successfully has more to do with virtue ethics, specifically attaining eudaimonia, in spite of statistics that do show happiness, or unhappiness, and income can be linked, and why virtue ethics may have more bearing on a person’s perception of living the good life than economics do.…

    • 2722 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Four Schools of Thought

    • 3070 Words
    • 13 Pages

    In today’s fast-paced business environment, there is a greater emphasis placed on ethics training as companies seek to comply with regulatory requirements and improve business efficiency. Ethics picks up where the law leaves off, providing more than just the moral minimum to avoid intentional harm. When studying ethics, the variety of ethical theories offers different approaches to solving dilemmas. There are four schools of ethical thought, which include deontology, utilitarianism, existentialism and theism. This paper will entail its readers to understand the thinking behind each school of thought and also further understand the conflicts, which arises in our lives while dealing with people who think differently then we do. Moreover, the understanding of four schools of thought will enable the readers to deal wit people, in different schools of thought, when conflict arises.…

    • 3070 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Concretization Of Religion

    • 1517 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Moreover, the more they elaborate their rules, the attempt to meet real complexities and render a profound and many-sided ethic tangible and concrete, the greater the chance of transforming the original insight into a complicated set of legalistic formulae and the development of legalistic rigorism. Then, as St. Paul put it, "The letter killeth but the spirit giveth life" in the Christianity religion. Yet the fact is that the ethical insight must be given some institutionalized concretization or it will remain forever beyond the grasp of the ordinary man. The high call of the ethical message may well, however, be reduced to petty conformity to rules in the process. Brahmanic developments of ritual piety, Pharisaic rituals in late classical Judaism, and legalism in Catholicism and the delimitation of the religious and ethical message may contribute to and be affected by the loss of interior resonance of the verbal and other symbols that is…

    • 1517 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Religiou Fundamentalism

    • 1307 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In the following essay we will be looking into what is meant by religious fundamentalism by looking into four fundamental notions that came from an era that had been interested in the investigation and exploration of modernity and a free way of thinking for the individual. These four fundamental notions are identified as rationalization (intellectualization), the idea of disenchantment, enlightenment and secularization. The essay will closely link these to Weber who was a socialist and was interested in these concepts in defining religious fundamentalism. Weber believed rationalization was the freedom given to an individual, to explore their own thoughts; his ideas of rationalization from the pre modern era when the ability to reason and autonomy was left aside for the exclusive and the elite that were pointed out by God (Weber; 1987, 126). Reason is how man could be civil and make choices with justification yet in a very responsible manner. According to Gellner, individuals are tidy and orderly in thought to think out for themselves what would be the best way to act in a given situation and make a choice that would be reasonable (1992; 38). Disenchantment being also a way of freeing one’s strains from obligation was described by Weber as an idea that pushed aside monotheistic religion as something that was irrational; therefore delegitimizing religion was a unifying worldview in the modern secular world (Weber; 1987, 100). All these concepts will be made clear in the following paragraphs of this essay, included will be the above two that haven’t been defined, secularization and enlightenment as these will link our essay to modernity.…

    • 1307 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays

Related Topics