In Tooley, Plantinga and the Deontological Argument from Evil Part I and Part II, I discussed Michael Tooley’s deontological argument from evil. In The Problem of Evil Peter Van Inwagen makes a reference to the type of argument I proposed. In this post I intend to make some critical commentary on Van Inwagen’s comments.
Tooley states, [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Divine Command Theory'
Van Inwagen, Divine Duties and the Deontological Argument from Evil
January 9th, 2010 1 Comment
Tags: Divine Command Theory · Michael Tooley · Peter Van Inwagen · Problem of Evil
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and Infantile Religious Morality
September 24th, 2009 71 Comments
In “Why Traditional Theism Cannot Provide an Adequate Foundation for Morality” Walter Sinnott Armstrong criticises William Lane Craig’s contention that theism, if true, provides an adequate foundation for morality. Armstrong contends that Craig’s position is “incredible”[1] and subject to a “cavalcade of devastating objections.”[2] He goes on to conclude that his criticisms do not just [...]
Tags: Divine Command Theory · Ethics · God and Morality · Patrick Nowell Smith · Philosophy of Religion · Richard Mouw · Walter Sinnott-Armstrong
Tekton E-Book: John Loftus’ Why I Became an Atheist Refuted Feat. MandM
September 17th, 2009 5 Comments
Tekton Education and Apologetics ministries have released an online book, John Loftus’ Why I Became an Atheist Refuted, as a special edition for their E-Block Online Journal. While most of the book is authored by J. P. Holding, Chapter 2 is not completely,
Chapter 2: “The Christian Illusion of Rational and Moral Superiority” — Two part [...]
Tags: Divine Command Theory · E-Book · God and Morality · John Loftus · JP Holding · Tekton Apologetics Ministries
Tooley, Plantinga and the Deontological Argument from Evil Part II
May 27th, 2009 1 Comment
In my last post, Tooley, Plantinga and the Deontological Argument from Evil Part I, I sketched Tooley’s distinction between a deontological and an axiological argument from evil and argued that Tooley rejects the axiological version because it rests on controversial ethical claims that are likely to be rejected by many theists. I outlined Tooley’s deontological [...]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Atheism · Divine Command Theory · Michael Tooley · Philosophy of Religion · Problem of Evil · William Alston
Tooley, Plantinga and the Deontological Argument from Evil Part I
May 13th, 2009 1 Comment
This two-part series criticises the deontological argument from evil proposed by Micheal Tooley in The Knowledge of God, the print debate between him and Alvin Plantinga.1 My critique proceeds in four parts. Initially I will sketch Tooley’s distinction between a deontological and an axiological argument from evil and will argue that Tooley rejects the axiological [...]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Atheism · Divine Command Theory · Michael Tooley · Philosophy of Religion · Problem of Evil · William Alston
John W. Loftus on The Christian Illusion of Moral Superiority Part II
May 8th, 2009 2 Comments
In my previous post, John W. Loftus on The Christian Illusion of Moral Superiority Part I, I argued that Loftus’ position was based on a confusion between ontological and epistemological foundations. I will now address his arguments against divine command theory.
Loftus’ Arguments Against a Divine Command Theory
After misconstruing the divine command theory as an [...]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Atheism · Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · John Loftus · Robert Adams · William Wrainwright
John W. Loftus on The Christian Illusion of Moral Superiority Part I
May 7th, 2009 12 Comments
Several Christian thinkers, most notably, C S Lewis, John Hare, Robert Adams and William Lane Craig have argued that Theism provides a superior foundation for moral obligation than Naturalism does. Most of these thinkers defend this notion by developing and defending a divine command theory.[1] John W Loftus is aware of this and in The [...]
Tags: Atheism · Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · John Loftus · Philip Quinn · Robert Adams · Stephen Evans · William Alston
Divine Commands and Intuitions: A Response to Ken Perrott
May 5th, 2009 34 Comments
Ken Perrott from Open Parachute has asked me some questions about my views on morality and divine commands. Views I have repeatedly expressed on this blog. Given that others have from time to time asked me similar questions, and given the length of my response, I have decided to turn my answers into a post. [...]
Tags: Atheism · Bad Reasoning · Divine Command Theory · Ethics · God and Morality
With God Anything can be Permitted: Another Bad Argument against Theistic Morality
April 28th, 2009 30 Comments
Dostoevsky’s Ivan Karamazov’s famously contended that if God does not exist then anything is permissible. Ken over at Open Parachute disagrees and goes one step further and argues that the shoe is on the other foot. Ken maintains that theistic accounts of obligation lead to an “extreme form of moral relativism” and in fact, Dostoevsky’s [...]
Tags: Atheism · Bad Reasoning · Divine Command Theory · Ethics · God and Morality
