The Moral Argument
THE MORAL ARGUMENT
How do we explain the fact that people often refrain from immoral acts even when there is no risk of their being caught?
There are many formulations of the moral argument but they all have as their starting point the phenomenon (fact) of moral conscience. In essence the moral argument poses the question: where does our conscience, our sense of morality come from if not from God? It also asserts that if we accept the existence of objective moral laws we must accept the existence of a divine law-giver. It is an argument therefore which infers the existence of God from the empirical evidence of a psychological phenomenon. This is the observable fact that human beings sometimes appear to act from a sense of moral duty in which there is no self-interest or thought for the consequences of that act.
Cardinal Newman, for example, deduces God’s existence from the fact of conscience rather than from objective moral law: If, as is the case, we feel responsibility,... are frightened at transgressing the voice of conscience, this implies there is One to whom we are responsible... If the cause of these emotions does not belong to this visible world, the object to which our perception is directed must be Supernatural and Divine.’
Dom Trethowan’s version of the moral argument rejects the use of logic and instead interprets morality as a religious experience, which points towards the existence of God. When we make a moral decision, that is to say when we are guided by our conscience, a sense of obligation dictates our choice. According to Trethowan, underlying this sense of obligation is the conviction that each person has value. If we accept that other people have intrinsic value then we have to ask what the source of this value is. Trethowan’s answer is God: We have value because we receive it from a source of value. That is what I mean...by God.
HP Owen argues that objective moral laws exist and that there must therefore be a divine law-giver: ...it is
How do we explain the fact that people often refrain from immoral acts even when there is no risk of their being caught?
There are many formulations of the moral argument but they all have as their starting point the phenomenon (fact) of moral conscience. In essence the moral argument poses the question: where does our conscience, our sense of morality come from if not from God? It also asserts that if we accept the existence of objective moral laws we must accept the existence of a divine law-giver. It is an argument therefore which infers the existence of God from the empirical evidence of a psychological phenomenon. This is the observable fact that human beings sometimes appear to act from a sense of moral duty in which there is no self-interest or thought for the consequences of that act.
Cardinal Newman, for example, deduces God’s existence from the fact of conscience rather than from objective moral law: If, as is the case, we feel responsibility,... are frightened at transgressing the voice of conscience, this implies there is One to whom we are responsible... If the cause of these emotions does not belong to this visible world, the object to which our perception is directed must be Supernatural and Divine.’
Dom Trethowan’s version of the moral argument rejects the use of logic and instead interprets morality as a religious experience, which points towards the existence of God. When we make a moral decision, that is to say when we are guided by our conscience, a sense of obligation dictates our choice. According to Trethowan, underlying this sense of obligation is the conviction that each person has value. If we accept that other people have intrinsic value then we have to ask what the source of this value is. Trethowan’s answer is God: We have value because we receive it from a source of value. That is what I mean...by God.
HP Owen argues that objective moral laws exist and that there must therefore be a divine law-giver: ...it is
Bibliography: The Puzzle of God-Peter Vardy Ethics-Inventing Right and Wrong-J.L Mackie Philosophy of Religion-Anne Jordan Philosophy of Religion-Mel Thompson Philosophy Made Simple-Richard Popkin NW Sept 2000