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Entries Tagged as 'Ethical Theory'

God and Moral Grounding Power

October 6th, 2018 1 Comment

A common objection to divine command theories of ethics (DCT) is that they make morality arbitrary. There are several ways this objection can be cashed out. The most common is what is called the ‘Horrendous deeds objection’. The Horrendous deeds objection can be formalised as follows: (1) If the DCT is true, then if God commanded […]

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The Challenge of Moral Relativism: Three Problems with Relativism

June 25th, 2018 Comments Off on The Challenge of Moral Relativism: Three Problems with Relativism

This is the third of a series of posts on moral relativism. These talks are based on some talks I have given on the subject in the last few months. In the first post, I looked at what the basic issues are. The second post examines some of the reasons people offer for accepting relativism. This […]

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The Challenge of Moral Relativism: Arguments for Relativism

June 22nd, 2018 Comments Off on The Challenge of Moral Relativism: Arguments for Relativism

This post is based on a series of talks I have given on moral relativism. In my last post, I looked at what relativism and objectivism are. Here I examine some common reasons people accept or defend relativism I will offer critical commentary on these arguments. When examining any position in philosophy it is important […]

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The challenge of Moral Relativism: Relativism vs Objectivism: understanding the issues:

June 20th, 2018 11 Comments

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZmPYtnBP4Q&feature=youtu.be”>Tauranga

This post is the first of a series of posts which reproduce a talk on Moral Relativism I gave at both the Auckland and Tauranga  Confident Christianity Conference’s and was given earlier in the year as part at a series of talks on apologetics at Orewa Community Church. In moral debates about you will hear […]

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“Robust Ethics and the Autonomy Thesis” Now Online

April 3rd, 2018 Comments Off on “Robust Ethics and the Autonomy Thesis” Now Online

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iVyVJAMiOY”>William

Recently, Philosophia Christi published Matt’s article “Robust Ethics and the Autonomy Thesis: A reply to Erik Wielenberg”. This article consisted of some critical commentary and responses to Erik Wielenberg’s book Robust Ethics: The Metaphysics and Epistemology of Godless Normative Realism. Since then Matt’s article has received a little bit of unexpected attention. One of my arguments […]

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“Robust Ethics and the Autonomy Thesis” published in Philosophia Christi

February 3rd, 2018 Comments Off on “Robust Ethics and the Autonomy Thesis” published in Philosophia Christi

Matt’s article, “Robust Ethics and the Autonomy Thesis: A reply to Erik Wielenberg” has been published in the winter issue ( Vol 19 Num. 2 – Winter 2017) of Philosophia Christi.  An overview of the contents of the full issue can be found here.  The editor has given Matt permission to upload the article in […]

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Divine Command Theory and Utilitarianism forgotten bedfellows? Paley’s Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy (part two)

January 18th, 2018 1 Comment

In my last post, I explained the position of Theological Utilitarianism as expounded in William Paley’s The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy. I pointed out The Principles was first published in 1785, four years before Jeremy Bentham published An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. In this post, I want to look at the influence Theological Utilitarianism had […]

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