LO: I will justify my response to the view that Morality can exist without God.

CHRISTMAS HOMEWORK: Revise for end of unit assessment on Kantian Ethics. First week after the Christmas holidays.

NB: First lesson back after Christmas will be a revision lesson on Kant. Please bring with you your revision notes for that lesson.

How would define if something is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ ethical behaviour? What criteria would you use to judge whether or not an action was moral or immoral?

‘Is something right because God commands it or does God command it because it is right?’

What is the difference in meaning between the two parts of the Euthyphro dilemma?

Remember two Issues with each side to the dilemma …Some say that if morals are separate from God,

then this diminishes God, because God is deferring to a higher set of absolutes rules.

Some say if morals are good because God commands them, they seem arbitrary and not good in themselves. This means that God could have commanded the opposite and it would have been good. E.g. “Murder one another.”

Solutions???

Euthyphro’s dilemma:Euthyphro’s dilemma:

Something is good simply because God commands it

God says it, that settles it.

What is good moral behaviour? How does God factor into this? Should

he? Is it possible to have moral behaviour independent of belief in God?

Assuming there is a God, is an action good because God declares it to be good, or does God declare it to be good because it IS good in itself.

‘Humanism is an approach to life based on reason and our common humanity, recognising that moral values are properly founded on human nature and experience alone. Humanists value ideas for which there is evidence, and the things inside and around us that make life worth living.

Humanists believe that moral values are not dependent on religion and that it is untrue, and unfair to non-religious people and a damaging idea in an increasingly secular society to assert otherwise. Humanists believe that moral values evolved, and continue to evolve, along with human nature and society and are indeed based on human nature, experience and society. If human civilisation were to develop all over again, it is highly unlikely that exactly the same religions would develop. But it is very likely that our basic moral principles would be the same, because human beings, who have evolved to live in groups, need the kinds of rules which enable us to live together co-cooperatively and harmoniously …’

A. J. Ayer

Do objective moral values exist? Should they exist?

Could they exist independently of God?

William Lane Craig: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9xZyYvEp_c

We will read through the article by Law together.Once we have done that, your task will be

to do the following:1. Produce a concise written summary of Law’s

main points

Whilst doing so, be thinking about your response to Law. Do you agree or disagree, and why?

We have read through and discussed Law’s argument in favour of the view that we can have morality without religion.

Your homework is to read and summarise the main points arguing against the view that morality can exist without God (or without religion) given from C S Lewis.

Can with have Morality without God? Is belief in God redundant (no longer

needed) when it comes to Ethics?