PHLA11H3 Lecture : lec 5-affirmative action
Document Summary
Morality and moral controversies, 2nd edition, john arthur, ed. (prentice-hall. John arthur is associate professor of philosophy and director of the program in. Law and society at state university of new york, binghampton. Arthur considers the commonly held belief that morality somehow depends on religion. Against this he first argues that religion is unnecessary in order either to act morally or to attain moral understanding . After rejecting the idea that god is necessary in order to make sense of morality"s being objective, arthur considers the divine command theory, according to which morality depends on god"s will. As arthur points out, this theory implies that morality is arbitrary ( it just so happens that. God forbids cruelty; he has no reason for doing so). Furthermore, if we accept the divine command theory, we cannot make sense of the idea that god is good.
