Category: Ethics

  • Argument from love for objective moral value

    Consider the following argument: Love involves appreciation. Appreciation of something is irrational if it has no value. It is rational to love other persons. Now, I suppose value comes in different forms, and what we really need is objective intrinsic value. Well, people usually don’t love other people because of what they can do for →

  • Epistemological issues in the moral argument

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    I am a proponent of a moral argument, taken from William Lane Craig, given in the following form: If God doesn’t exist, then objective moral values and duties don’t exist Objective moral values and duties do exist Therefore, God exists I’ve had a number of previous posts here dealing with specific details of this argument’s →

  • Derivative Divine Command Theory

    While I was having a discussion in the comments here it dawned on me that I might’ve stumbled upon a novel Divine Command Theory (DCT). Before I get there I should probably give a brief description of what a DCT is. DCT is a meta-ethical theory that seeks to ground our moral duties in the commands →

  • What objective moral duties aren’t

    In talking about the existence of objective moral duties with people I’ve found that there is some confusion as to what is meant by the term. I thought I’d use a small blog post to clear up some common misunderstandings of the term. To start, we have the following definition: Moral duties are objective if →

  • Piracy and moral duties

    I had a thought the other day. We have legal duties to our government who are established as qualified legal authorities by us voting them in. When it comes to piracy it seems many people apply the following premise to make themselves feel better: If I can’t see why a certain law exists or don’t →

  • Outrage, praise and empathy

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    I often defend the following formulation of the moral argument (taken from William Lane Craig): 1. If God doesn’t exist, then objective moral duties don’t exist 2. Objective moral duties do exist 3. Therefore, God exists In defence of premise (2) I usually offer the following three points: 2.1. If objective moral duties don’t exist, →

  • Which Came First: Right or Law?

    I was thinking about the law today, as people do, and I was wondering which of the following two categories serves to ground the other: Inherent human rights, value or dignity (we’ll just call this “value”) Human duties or law (we’ll just call this “law”) By “duties” I mean [legal, moral and/or parental] obligations (what →

  • Is vegetarianism the best solution to animal cruelty?

    It is sometimes heard on the lips of vegetarians that vegetarianism is the solution to animal cruelty in the food industry. After all, it is argued, if we stop eating meat then the corporations who are cruel to animals in the process of getting meat to their consumers will either shut down (because of lack →