Worries about Ethics

1
Worries about Ethics

• Norms Descriptions

2
Humes gap

• In every system of morality, which I have
  hitherto met with, I have always remark'd, that
  the author proceeds for some time in the ordinary
  ways of reasoning, and establishes the being of a
  God, or makes observations concerning human
  affairs when all of a sudden I am surpriz'd to
  find, that instead of the usual copulations of
  propositions, is, and is not, I meet with no
  proposition that is not connected with an ought,
  or an ought not. This change is imperceptible
  but is however, of the last consequence. For as
  this ought, or ought not, expresses some new
  relation or affirmation, 'tis necessary that it
  shou'd be observ'd and explain'd and at the same
  time that a reason should be given for what
  seems altogether inconceivable, how this new
  relation can be a deduction from others, which
  are entirely different from it.

3
The problem

• The shift Hume describes runs from descriptions
  of the world (Gods existence, etc.) to claims
  about how things should be or ought to be.
• This is an important shift, because there is no
  obvious or simple relation between these.
• Sometimes (and in some respects) the way things
  are (the descriptive truth) is the way they
  should be (normatively correct).
• Sometimes (and in some respects) the way things
  are is a way they should not be (normatively
  unacceptable).

4
So how are these related?

• Some theories of should/ought/etc. (the
  normative, in general) try to give a descriptive
  account of what makes A should be the case or
  We ought to do x in circumstances C true.
• Such an account reduces the normative to the
  descriptive.
• One such reduction is the Divine Command Theory,
  according to which what someone ought to do is
  whatever God commands.

5
The Euthyphro

• There is a standard objection (due to Plato) to
  this view.
• It begins with the question Is Gods command
  really what makes something right or wrong, or
  does she command what she commands because it is
  the right thing to do?
• If God commands what she does because it is
  right, then there must be something about it that
  makes it right, something other than her giving
  that command. That is, the Divine command theory
  is false!
• But if Gods command to do x makes x the right
  thing to do, this seems oddly arbitrary. God (in
  principle) could command anything, no matter how
  absurd, and it would simply and automatically be
  the right thing to do.

6
God as ideal agent

• People often respond to the Euthyphro by saying
  that God, of course, being good (perfectly so!),
  would never knowingly command anything that was
  wrong, and would always command what is right.
• Further, being omniscient, God always knows
  whats right or wrong.
• So Gods commands will never lead us astray by
  definition, whatever God commands is the right
  thing to do.
• However, this just takes the first option there
  is some separate, prior fact about whats right
  or wrong, and, God (being perfect) recognizes
  this fact and responds to it as an ideal agent
  would.

7
Upshot

• The upshot of this position is that its not
  Gods command that really makes things right (or
  wrong).
• Instead, God commands what she does because she
  knows that its right.
• At least on this view, the fact that God commands
  we do x (in circumstances C) is a good sign (a
  perfect one, in fact) that doing x in C is right.
  
• But this leads us to the next question How
  should we go about figuring out whats right or
  wrong?

8
Alternatives

• On this theory, Gods command is a perfect guide.
  But how should we go about deciding what it is
  that God commands? Directly (by looking for
  evidence that God commands that we do x in C) or
  indirectly (by looking for evidence that doing x
  in C is the sort of thing (i.e. a good thing)
  that God commands?
• God (being omniscient) knows everything too. So
  in principle we can go about studying the world
  by the direct route of asking what God believes
  about it. Whatever God believes will be the
  truth!

9
Matters of fact

• But on most matters of fact, at least, trying to
  figure out whats true by asking what does God
  believe about this is pointless.
• After all, simply looking at the world and
  studying the facts works pretty well, as far as
  we can tell.
• And furthermore, we dont have any useful
  evidence for what God believes about (say) the
  melting point of lead other than what we gain by
  measuring the temperature of lead as it melts (or
  freezes).

10
The Direct Route to Gods Command?

• Is there a direct route to knowing what God has
  commanded?
• The obvious answer is to look at some holy book
  or other tradition of religious authority.
• Of course, this raises a serious problem Which
  book? Which tradition?
• And its a problem that matters, at least insofar
  as correct religious observance is concerned.

11
Deuteronomy 13 6-10 (RSV)

• If your brother, the son of your mother, or your
  son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom
  who is as your own soul, entices you secretly,
  saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which
  neither you nor your fathers have known,you
  shall not yield to him, nor shall your eye pity
  him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you
  conceal him but you shall kill him your hand
  shall be first against him to put him to death,
  and afterwards the hand of all the people. (
  likewise for entire cities that have been led
  astray13 12-16)

12
The point

• This is not to suggest that Christianity or
  Judaism today actually acts in accordance with
  this demand.
• But only to show that its not simple to decide
  just how a traditions teachings should be
  understood, if we find such murderous
  declarations unacceptable.
• And if we shift to thinking in terms of what we
  believe a benevolent, kind, good God would really
  want us to do, then were pursuing the indirect
  route looking at the world, and at human
  beings, and trying to decide whats best.

13
The Indirect Route

• So is there an indirect route to evidence about
  what God commands?
• God is supposed to be good, benevolent, etc.
• We have some notion of what this means when we
  apply it to people.
• If we pursue that understanding, refining it and
  building on it (examining what sorts of things
  good people do when theyre not acting out of
  character or in ignorance, and so on), then maybe
  we will have a good starting point, at least!