My paper, “Can a Divine Command Theory Vindicate the Objectivity of Morality?” was published in Philosophia Christi, vol 21. No 1 2025. A copy is now available online at my academia.edu page. The abstract is below. Abstract:Defenders of divine command metaethics (DCM) often argue that one of its key advantages is its ability to vindicate […]
Entries Tagged as 'Divine Command Theory'
New publication Online: “Can a Divine Command Theory Vindicate the Objectivity of Morality?”
May 17th, 2026 No Comments
Tags: David Brink · Divine Command Theory · Elizabeth Tropman · Michael Huemer · Objectivism
Sinnott-Armstrong on God, Secularism and “reasons” to be moral. Part Three: Can Religious theories answer the question, “Why be moral?”
September 13th, 2025 1 Comment
In a previous post, I observed that Walter Sinnott-Armstrong concedes that secular accounts of moral obligation cannot vindicate the thesis that agents always have decisive (all-things-considered) reasons to avoid wrongdoing. To mitigate this problem, he argues: Is this limitation a problem for secular accounts of morality? I doubt that, too. If we demand this extreme […]
Tags: Divine Command Theory · Dualism of Practical Reason · God and Morality · Walter Sinnott-Armstrong · Why be Moral?
New publication: “Can a Divine Command Theory Vindicate the Objectivity of Morality?”
August 26th, 2025 Comments Off on New publication: “Can a Divine Command Theory Vindicate the Objectivity of Morality?”
My paper, “Can a Divine Command Theory Vindicate the Objectivity of Morality?” has been published in the latest issue of Philosophia Christi. Abstract:Defenders of divine command metaethics (DCM) often argue that one of its key advantages is its ability to vindicate the objectivity of moral judgments. Critics, however, contend that DCM is a subjectivist theory […]
Tags: David Brink · Divine Command Theory · Elizabeth Tropman · Michael Huemer · Objectivism
Is Theism Incompatible with the Pauline Principle? Comments on James Sterba’s Argument from Evil
November 3rd, 2022 Comments Off on Is Theism Incompatible with the Pauline Principle? Comments on James Sterba’s Argument from Evil
My paper, “Is Theism Incompatible with the Pauline Principle?” has been published in a special issue of Religions, devoted to the topic Do We Now Have A Logical Argument From Evil? The abstract is as follows: This paper criticises James Sterba’s use of the Pauline principle to formulate a logical version of the problem of […]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Deontological Argument from Evil · Divine Command Theory · George Berkeley · James Sterba · John Mackie · Pauline Principle · Problem of Evil · Theological Utilitarianism · Utilitarianism
Thinking Matters Talk: Does Morality Need God? Part Three:
September 8th, 2022 3 Comments
This year the New Zealand apologetics organization Thinking Matters ran a “Confident Christianity Conference” in Auckland. I was asked to speak at this conference on the topic. Does Morality Need God? Below is a slightly streamlined version of the talk I gave. This brings me to my second contention: If God exists, a divine command theory […]
Tags: Anything goes Objection · Arbitrariness Objection · Divine Command Theory · Euthyphro Dilemma · God and Morality · Graham Oppy · Nathan L King · Plato
Thinking Matters Talk: Does Morality Need God? Part One
August 24th, 2022 Comments Off on Thinking Matters Talk: Does Morality Need God? Part One
This year the New Zealand apologetics organization Thinking Matters, ran a “Confident Christianity Conference” in Auckland. I was asked to speak at this conference on the topic. Does Morality Need God? Below is a slightly streamlined version of the talk I gave. “If God does not exist, then everything is permissible.” These words from Ivan […]
Tags: Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · John Stuart Mill · Peter Singer · Robert Adams
Evil, limited, and Indifferent deities: The Horrendous Deeds Objection Redivivus?
November 22nd, 2021 2 Comments
www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3zSoGqKdEk
Last week, I was scheduled to present the above paper at the Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Philosophical Society at Fort Worth, Texas. Unfortunately, Auckland’s lockdown prevented this, and the paper had to be cancelled due to the logistics involved. I did, however, pre-record the talk, so it is available below: Abstract: A common objection […]
Tags: Divine Command Theory · Horrendous Deeds Objection · Jason Thibodeau
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.
