History of Philosophy A

1
History of Philosophy A

• Lecture Two Medieval Ethics I

2
Recap

• Last lecture we
• Briefly went through some admin.
• READ THE COURSE DOCUMENT
• READ THE STUDY GUIDE
• We talked about what seminars were for
• We briefly introduced some information on St.
  Augustine

3
This Lecture

• We will look more in-depth at ethics in the
  medieval world.
• We will
• Introduce the Euthyphro dilemma
• Introduce Ockhams Divine Command Theory
• Next lecture we will look at Thomist
  alternatives

4
Plato (428-348 BC)

• Well start back in ancient Greece, with Plato.
• Youve probably all heard of Plato
• Born to an aristocratic family, he was a follower
  of Socrates
• And founded one of the first organised schools
  The Academy

5
Euthyphro Dilemma

• In Euthyphro he describes a discussion between
  Euthyphro and Socrates.
• Just as with the extract from Augustine, the
  philosophical argument is presented as a
  dialogue.
• Take the following examples.

6
Euthyphro Dilemma

• If I pick up an object it is a carried object.
• Is it a carried object because I am carrying it?
• Or am I carrying it because its a carried
  object?
• If I have followers, I am a leader.
• Am I a leader because I have followers?
• Or does I have follows because I lead people?
• If someone loves me, I am a loved thing.
• Am I loved thing because someone loves me?
• Or does someone love me because I am a loved
  thing?

7
Euthyphro Dilemma

• If I pick up an object it is a carried object.
• Is it a carried object because I am carrying it?
• Or am I carrying it because its a carried
  object?
• If I have followers, I am a leader.
• Am I a leader because I have followers?
• Or does I have follows because I lead people?
• If someone loves me, I am a loved thing.
• Am I loved thing because someone loves me?
• Or does someone love me because I am a loved
  thing?

8
Euthyphro Dilemma

• Another example.
• Imagine the perfect mathematician.
• For all mathematical truths, it is the case that
  he knows them to be true.
• But are they true because he believes them to be
  true?
• Or does he believe them to be true because they
  are true independently of him?

9
Euthyphro Dilemma

• Another example.
• Imagine the perfect mathematician.
• For all mathematical truths, it is the case that
  he knows them to be true.
• But are they true because he believes them to be
  true?
• Or does he believe them to be true because they
  are true independently of him?

10
Euthyphro Dilemma

• So some sense can be made between asking whether
  something that is F is F for some reason P, or is
  P true because that thing is F.
• With that in place, Socrates asks
• Think about this Is the pious loved by the
  gods because it's pious, or it is pious because
  it is loved? Euthyphro 10a

11
Euthyphro Dilemma

• The question has been taken more generally about
  what is (morally) good rather than just piety.
• The polytheism was also dropped by medieval
  times.
• So we end up with
• Is something good because God says it is good,
  or does God say its good because it is good.
• (similarly for evil things)

12
Euthyphro Dilemma

• But why is this a dilemma?
• The idea is that either answer you give has some
  awkward questions associated with it.
• Say God has to say something is good because it
  is good.
• In some sense, facts about goodness are out of
  His control.
• In some sense, Hes constrained.
• But how can God the omnipotent deity be
  constrained?

13
Euthyphro Dilemma

• Imagine things are good because God says so.
• Now goodness is somehow arbitrary.
• God could order us all to put our right socks on
  before our left but surely its not wrong to do
  it the other way around?
• Maybe its a bad idea to do it (what with the
  hellfire)
• Maybe its wrong because you should obey God
• But surely its not wrong in and of itself

14
Euthyphro Dilemma

• Medieval philosophers took this Dilemma on board,
  and developed theories of ethics accommodating
  both answers.
• Well start by looking at Ockhams response
• Things are good because God says so.

15
William of Ockham (c. 1288 1347)

• Born in Ockham, Surrey.
• Joined the Franciscan Order of monks, before
  going to Oxford to study theology.
• Never finished (and became known as Venerabilis
  Inceptor)

16
William of Ockham (c. 1288 1347)

• Why?
• Because he was charged with heresy, and travelled
  to Avignon in France where the Papal Court was.
• The Pope was building a huge palace and library
  there.
• Kept at the palace for four years, his accusers
  tried to make a case against him.
• Ockham, on the other hand, came to believe the
  Pope was expounding heresy.
• And did so even when it was pointed out to him!
• So the Pope was a heretic in Ockhams eyes!

17
William of Ockham (c. 1288 1347)

• Seeing how this was going to go, Ockham did a
  bunk with some fellow monks.
• First fled to Italy, before travelling to Munich.
• Excommunicated in 1328.
• Switched to writing on politics.

18
Divine Command Theory

• Ockham firmly embraces the first horn of the
  Euthyphro Dilemma.
• Things are good because God has ordained it that
  way.
• Things are prohibited, because God orders them to
  not be done.
• This is called Divine Command Theory.
• Morality depends upon the commands of the deity.
• (sometimes called Theological Voluntarism)

19
Divine Command Theory

• Ockham combines this with a theory about moral
  virtue.
• For Ockham, acts themselves are morally neutral.
• Two standard examples are
• Walking to Church
• Falling to your death

20
Divine Command Theory

• I might walk to Church because Im driven by my
  love of God, my obedience to God and my desire to
  bond with my community.
• In those circumstances the act would be morally
  praiseworthy.
• But I might be vainglorious.
• I might walk to Church as part of a package deal
  to make myself seem all pompous and important.
• In those circumstances, the act would be immoral.

21
Divine Command Theory

• Or I might fall to my death by hurling myself off
  of a cliff.
• Suicide, of course, was (is?) a sin
• So it might well be immoral to do that
• But if I genuinely repented on the way down,
  Ockham says that the act is not immoral.
• So the same acts can have the different moral
  statuses.
• Its all about the intent of the agent.
• Even if you dont succeed in doing an act, we can
  still judge the intent

22
Divine Command Theory

• One of the reasons Ockham had for believing DCT
  was to do with things called universals.
• Well encounter these more on Knowledge and
  Reality B, and theres a chapter in the
  introductory text.
• Those medieval philosohpers who believed in
  universals believed that God needed two types of
  things to make the world
• Objects
• Universals

23
Divine Command Theory

• So He made, say, two oranges.
• They have something in common theyre both
  oranges!
• Those who believed in universals argued that they
  literally had something in common.
• A universal of orangeness

24
Divine Command Theory

• So universals were some extra component in the
  world.
• Ockham said there were no such things.
• All God needed to do was make one object, and
  make it a certain way (a bit orangey), and
  another object, and make it the same way (also
  orangey).
• There was no extra thing that needed to exist to
  do the job.
• Instead they were both oranges because thats
  just the way we talked.

25
Divine Command Theory

• But if things only share a property because of
  the way we talk, the same applies to things like
  being sinful
• Acts, or intentions to act, are only sinful
  because of a way we talk.
• And Ockham thought that morality should be
  defined in terms of what God orders us to do, or
  more accurately what God will send us to Hell for
  doing (or not doing).

26
Divine Command Theory

• Your intent to do (or not do) X is immoral df
  doing (or not doing) X will be punished by God
• Your intent to do (or not do) X is morally
  acceptable df doing (or not doing) X will not be
  punished by God

27
Divine Command Theory

• So morality does depend wholly and solely on
  Gods edicts.
• He really could ordain that it is immoral for you
  to put your left sock on before your right.
• Does that mean he could ordain anything?
• Well, almost.
• Ockham doesnt think God can ordain that
• Murder is morally acceptable
• Theft is morally acceptable

28
Divine Command Theory

• But the reason for that is because murder means
  immoral killing.
• And if immoral means prohibited by God then
  murder means to kill someone when that killing
  is prohibited by God
• So for God to command that this was acceptable
  would be for God to say that killing someone,
  when that killing is unacceptable to Him, is in
  fact acceptable to him.
• Thats a contradiction!
• God, being wholly flawless, would never make a
  mistake and ordain a contradiction

29
Divine Command Theory

• Similar for theft.
• A Theft df A taking of someone elses
  belongings when that act is prohibited by God.
• So for God to make that acceptable would be for
  Him to command that taking someone elses
  belongings is acceptable only when it isnt.

30
Divine Command Theory

• But that does mean that God could command that we
  should, say, kill all five year old children born
  in Stoke-On-Trent.
• That isnt contradictory.
• But then God isnt permitting murder.
• In that circumstances God has said killing the
  five year olds is permitted (indeed, obligatory!)
• So it isnt immoral, ergo isnt murder.

31
Divine Command Theory

• Ockham bought wholeheartedly into this scheme.
• He refers to Biblical examples.
• In Exodus 322 God tells the Israelites to head
  off and despoil the Egyptians
• But every woman shall ask of her neighbor and
  the woman who lives in her house, articles of
  silver and articles of gold, and clothing and
  you will put them on your sons and daughters.
  Thus you will plunder the Egyptians.

32
Divine Command Theory

• You might have thought wandering around and
  nicking peoples belongings was well out of
  order.
• But no!
• Given Gods commands, and DCT, Ockham can make
  perfect sense of this Biblical scenario.
• It was all kosher as God had said it was alright.

33
Divine Command Theory

• Note, then, that Gods commands can vary.
• He can tell some people not to take things that
  dont belong to them, and tell others its fine.
• He can tell you that its wrong set fire to
  kittens.
• He can tell me its all okay.

34
Divine Command Theory

• He does have some reticence about this issue.
• In Genesis 22, Abraham has to do in his son Isaac
  on the orders of God.
• God then lets him off the hook.

35
Divine Command Theory

• You mightve thought Ockham would think itd be
  fine.
• But actually he is reticent to endorse such a
  position.
• He says God would never counsel sin
• But, presumably, if God had told Abraham to go
  through with it, it wouldnt have been a sin?

36
Moral Epistemology

• Epistemology is the study of knowledge.
• Moral epistemology is the study of how we have
  moral knowledge.
• So how did Ockham think we acquired such moral
  knowledge?
• Whilst it is the case that some given X is
  prohibited or made obligatory by Gods commands,
  how do we come to know this fact?

37
Moral Epistemology

• Proponents of DCT could say that you look in the
  Bible.
• (or the Koran, or Talmud etc.)
• But Ockham doesnt say this.
• Take the case of the virtuous pagan.
• Could there be people, like Socrates and Plato,
  who were nice guys but werent Christians?
• Many answers were put forth
• Yes. And Christ liberated them from Hell.
  (Pre-Augustinian)
• Yes. And theyre in Limbo. (Thomist)
• No. What appear to be virtues in pagans arent
  really virtues. (Augustine)

38
Moral Epistemology

• Ockham sided on the yes side.
• There could be virtuous pagans.
• But theyd never read the Bible to discover Gods
  commands, so how did they figure out what was
  moral?
• By listening to their conscience.
• This, so Ockham said, was your guide to moral
  truth.

39
Moral Epistemology

• As everyone has a conscience, everyone can be
  virtuous whether or not theyve read the Bible.
• And how God neednt go around whispering in
  everyones ears about what they should be doing.
• Is this a good moral epistemology?
• Ill let you decide.

40
God and Morality

• With all this talk of God, youd have thought the
  Catholic Church would lap up DCT.
• But whilst, as we shall see, medieval philosophy
  is almost entirely about God, they didnt approve
  of DCT.
• As I said, Ockham was a heretic!
• And DCT was generally seen as heretical.

41
Next Lecture

• We look at some problems for DCT, and some
  reasons for why it was seen as heretical.
• Then briefly look at an alternative ethical
  theory that takes the other horn of the Euthyphro
  Dilemma.