Jeffery Jay Lowder has informed me that my article “Is Ethical Naturalism more Plausible than Supernaturalism? A Reply to Walter Sinnott-Armstrong” was published in the Spring/Summer 2012 issue of Philo. The abstract is below:
“In many of his addresses and debates, William Lane Craig has defended a Divine Command Theory of moral obligation (DCT). In a recent article and subsequent monograph, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong has criticized Craig’s position. Armstrong contended that a DCT is subject to several devastating objections and further contended that even if theism is true a particular form of ethical naturalism is a more plausible account of the nature of moral obligations than a DCT is. This paper critiques Armstrong’s argument. I will argue Armstrong’s objections do not refute a DCT and the ethical naturalism he defends is not more plausible than Craig’s ethical supernaturalism.”
You can read “Is Ethical Naturalism more Plausible than Supernaturalism? A Reply to Walter Sinnott-Armstrong” here.
Tags: Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · Publications · Walter Sinnott-Armstrong · William Lane Craig13 Comments
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.
People on that editorial board are dead. Is it really much of achievement getting published in a journal that is edited by dead people?
I don’t see where it’s been claimed that this is somehow an achievement, nor do I see the point of your comment.
Really, so Dan Dennett, Alvin Plantinga, Michael Tooley, Graham Oppy, Wes Moristion, Timothy O Connor and so on are all dead?
Dr. Flannagan — Congratulations on having your paper published! It will be most interesting to see if and how Walter Sinnott-Armstrong responds.
Thanks Jeff, my understanding is Philo approached him but he declined due to time deadlines. The paper was challenging to write and I was fortunate to get feedback from John Hare, Trent Dougherty, Eric Weilenberg and Mark Murphy when they visited Auckland in 2011.
Congratulations, nice going!
Good show, Matt.
Philo is a heavy metal journal open to hashing out major issues from a lot of different perspectives.
I noticed that the greatest atheist mind of all time, Kai Nielsen, is on the editorial board. Ironically, his independent moral criterion argument is the only reason I now believe in God. Amazing what happens when one actually reads different perspectives.
Congratulations and Cheers
Hi Matt,
Richard Carrier has published an article responding in Philo to your article. See: http://www.pdcnet.org/philo/content/Philo_2012_0015_0002_0200_0211
Have you read it? And what do you think of it? Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
– GGDFan777
GGDF Fan777
No I had not seen that article by Carrier. A few months ago Philo had told me they had approached Walter Sinnott-Armstrong to write a response but he declined to do so, and so they might look to get someone else, they did not say who.
I cant access Philo on the databases I have. But I will try and chase the article done and take a look.
Would like to read your article. But not likely to subscribe to Philo for $52@ year anytime soon. Are you content to leave the points you made sequestered there? Or will that article, or anything like it, be available elsewhere?
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