The document provides an overview of topics related to ethics that will be covered in a first year ethics course, including different ethical theories and how students will be assessed. It also includes sample exam questions testing understanding of divine command theory, which holds that morality is determined by God's commands, and the Euthyphro dilemma, a famous challenge to this view. Students are instructed to use the material to create an individual learning plan for ethics.

1. Ethics – Divine Command Theory
By the end of this lesson you
will:
• Know what topics you will
be studying for ethics in
your 1st year
• Understand how you will
be assessed for these
topics
• Applied this knowledge to
create an individual
learning plan

3. Spec Check – Ethics Theme 1
Ethical Theory Ethical Language
A. Divine Command Theory D. Naturalism
B. Virtue Theory E. Intuitionism
C. Egoism F. Emotivism

4. Spec Check – Divine Command Theory
Ethical Theory Issues for Analysis
A. Divine Command Theory
Meta-Ethical theory – God as the origin and regulator
of morality; right or wrong as objective truths based
on God’s will or command. Moral goodness is
achieved by compiling with divine command; divine
command a requirement of God’s omnipotence;
divine command as an objective meta-physical
foundation for morality. Robert Adam’s ‘modified
divine command theory’
The Euthyphro dilemma, the arbitrariness problem,
pluralism objection
Is morality what God commands?

5. Key Question of the Week
• A) Explain Divine Command Theory (20)
• B) ‘Morality is what God commands’. Discuss this view (30)

6. What is ethics?
• Ethics:
• Moral principles that govern a person's behaviour or the conducting
of an activity.
• The branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles.
• At its simplest, ethics is a system of moral principles. They affect how
people make decisions and lead their lives.

7. Re-Cap
• Imagine an ethical dilemma whereby a woman in pain with a terminal
condition wants to end her life through euthanasia
• What would a teleologist say?
• What would a deontologist say?
• What would a relativist say?
• What would an absolutist say?

8. Reading Task – Group Task
• Read the first entry in your reading logs entitled ‘Divine Command
Ethics’ in the Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
Make notes on the above attributes
We will feed these back as a class

9. Applying Divine Command Ethics
• Use your Bibles to look up Exodus 20
• Look at these commandments and decide with your partner how a
follower of Christian Divine Command Ethics would approach the
ethical dilemmas on your card sort. We will keep referring to the
same ethical dilemmas throughout the course.

10. • The 10
commandments are
found in the OLD
TESTAMENT
• They were given to
Moses from God
• Cartoon on 10
commandments

11. Divine Command Ethics
• According to Divine command ethics what is good is what God commands
• Because God is omnibenevolent, he has to desire good actions
• WHY? Because God is Omnipotent
• Followers of God can then use their Holy Scripture to follow the commands that God has
set them
• Muslims will follow the Qu’Ran
• Jews will follow the Torah
• Christians will follow the Bible
• As all of these books will contain slightly different rules, this means that what God
commands will change based on your religion. However, each religion will think that their
interpretation of God’s commands is indeed the objectively true command.
• By this, if we were to re-do the card sort activity using a different set of commandments
from a different Holy Book, we might find a different set of answers

12. Divine Command Ethics
• For many believers, because God is all powerful, whatever he
commands must therefore also be universally true.
• Therefore, because God is the most powerful being, if he declares
that it is wrong to commit adultery, us as mortal humans should
never commit adultery.

13. Meta-Ethical theory – God as the origin and
regulator of morality;
• Point: Divine Command Theory states that God is the origin and regulator
of morality.
• Explain: This means that when an agent is deciding what is right or wrong,
they should look towards God’s commands as in the scripture. It is
particularly important for followers of the book (Jews, Christians, Muslims,
who believe that God has commanded what is good in the Old Testament.
• Example: For example, Exodus 20, otherwise known as the 10
commandments, are the most upheld moral codes in Divine Command
Theory, where people learn that it is wrong to lie, steal and kill.
• Link: This shows that God is the origin of goodness because he dictated
the 10 commandments to Abraham and also set out regulations in other
scripture. The main regulation is if these commandments are not followed,
you will go to hell.

14. Right or wrong as objective truths based on
God’s will or command.
• Point: In Divine Command Theory, what is right or wrong is an objective
truth.
• Explain: This means that, the commands must be true for all people,
regardless of opinion, and true within their own right. This is because God
is omnipotent (all powerful) and omniscient (all knowing), so as the most
powerful being, only God can dictate how humans should behave.
• Example: For example, if a human wanted to kill for revenge, this would
not be allowed, as this would be a subjective decision. God has objectively
stated ‘thou shalt not kill’, so this would not be allowed.
• Link: Therefore, what God command shouldn't be questioned as it is
objective and true for all time.

15. Divine command a requirement of God’s
omnipotence
• TASK: Now complete your own paragraph structure based on the
point above

16. Assess & Peer Mark
• 1. What is Divine Command Ethics?
• 2. What Bible passage is the 10 commandments?
• 3. Name two attributes of God
• 4. How would a Christian follower of Divine Command approach
abortion?
• 5. What does it mean to say that God’s laws are objective?
• 6. What problems can you foresee with Divine Command theory?

17. Divine Command Theory – The
Euthyphro Dilemma
By the end of this lesson you will:
• Re-cap what you already know about
Divine Command Theory
• Understood the Euthyphro dilemma
• Evaluated how powerful you think the
Euthyphro dilemma is

18. Spec Check – Divine Command Theory
Ethical Theory Issues for Analysis
A. Divine Command Theory
Meta-Ethical theory – God as the origin and regulator
of morality; right or wrong as objective truths based
on God’s will or command. Moral goodness is
achieved by compiling with divine command; divine
command a requirement of God’s omnipotence;
divine command as an objective meta-physical
foundation for morality. Robert Adam’s ‘modified
divine command theory’
The Euthyphro dilemma, the arbitrariness problem,
pluralism objection
Is morality what God commands?

19. Starter - Speak it out
• Omnipotence
• God as regulator of morality
• Objective truths are based on God’s command
• God as omnipotent means that what he says must be correct
• Exodus 20
• ‘Thou shalt not kill’
• TASK: With your partner, take it in turns to speak out loud about a
bullet point at a time. Which partner can speak for the longest?

20. Write up
• God as the origin and regulator of morality;
• Right or wrong as objective truths based on God’s will or command.
• Moral goodness is achieved by compiling with divine command
• Divine command a requirement of God’s omnipotence.
• Divine command as an objective meta-physical foundation for
morality
• TASK: Using the phrases above, write a paragraph in your book which
explain these in detail.

21. The Euthyphro Dilemma
• Is an ancient Greek argument which challenges Divine Command Ethics. It
was posed by Socrates student ‘Euthyphro’ which we read about in Plato’s
book.
• Plato argued that there should be more to morality than just religious
obedience.
• This must be the case, because why do religious commands contradict each
other?
• You need to know the 2 positions of the theory
• Read the sheet on ‘the Euthyphro dilemma’ in your workbook
• Try to understand how these two positions undermine Divine Command.
• Make notes in your booklet.

22. Which problem matches which position?
• PROBLEM: God hasn’t had to make a choice about what
‘good’ things he should put in the Bible, everything in the Bible
is just ‘good’ anyway because God says so – yet being a good
and moral person usually involves making a choice. ‘is X good
solely because God commands it’
PROBLEM: Although this would mean that God has been a moral agent and
made a choice between good and evil – this means that things are
intrinsically good in themselves – which takes away from God’s overarching
goodness and makes us ask – what does make these things good?
‘Does God command X because it is already good’

23. Is the Bible passage....
Exodus 23:19
Genesis 22:1-19
Judges 11:30-39
Job 1:1-11
A) A POINTLESS COMMAND B) GOD COMMANDING
SOMETHING EVIL
Using the bible passages in front of you, decide whether the passage is either arbitrary or God commanding
something evil?

24. Bible Quotes
• 19 Bring the best of the first fruits of your soil into the house of the
LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
• 22 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here
I am,” he replied. 2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom
you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a
burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
• 34 When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out
to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of timbrels! She was an
only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 When he saw
her, he tore his clothes and cried, “Oh no, my daughter! You have brought
me down and I am devastated. I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot
break.”
• 11 But stretch out Your hand and strike all that he has, and he will
surely curse You to Your face.”

25. Questions
• 1. Explain the difference between ‘X is good because God wills it’ and
‘God wills X because it is good.’
• 2. Why does the Euthyphro dilemma pose a problem for God’s
omnipotence?
• 3. What Bible passages can you use to demonstrate the arbitrariness
of God’s will evident in Divine texts?
• 4. Can you think of any responses to the Euthyphro dilemma?
• TASK: Go through these questions with your partner and write the
answers in your book

26. Pictionary

27. Divine Command Theory – Robert
Adam’s modified approach
By the end of this lesson you will have:
• Re-capped what you know so far
• Learnt about Robert Adam’s
modified Divine Command theory
• Began to plan an essay response for
our key question part A

28. Spec Check – Divine Command Theory
Ethical Theory Issues for Analysis
A. Divine Command Theory
Meta-Ethical theory – God as the origin and regulator
of morality; right or wrong as objective truths based
on God’s will or command. Moral goodness is
achieved by compiling with divine command; divine
command a requirement of God’s omnipotence;
divine command as an objective meta-physical
foundation for morality. Robert Adam’s ‘modified
divine command theory’.
The Euthyphro dilemma, the arbitrariness problem,
pluralism objection
Is morality what God commands?

29. Moral argument Objective Subjective
Recap starter- pick at least 4 words from
the selection below & explain them!
Blue = 1 point each
Red = 2 points each
Black = 3 points each
Universal Moral Code Exodus 20 Isaac & Abraham
Divine command ethics Omnipotence Euthyphro dilemma

30. Task – Write up
• The Euthyphro dilemma
• Write a paragraph which would answer this part of the specification.
• Point: Tell me that the Euthyphro Dilemma is a criticism of divine command
• Explain: Explain in your own words the two positions of the Euthyphro
dilemma and why these pose a problem for the nature of God
• Example: Think of something which is seen as ‘good’ and then use this as
an example
• Link: State that this information shows you that the Euthyphro dilemma is
a problem for Divine Command.

31. Task – Pass the Sheets
• In your pairs please read each letter for 3mins and write what you
think it means on the sheet under the text.
• Remember to leave enough room for the next pair to write their
thoughts also on the sheet
• We will type up these notes as a class after the activity

32. • American philosopher Robert Adams proposes what he calls a
"modified divine command theory". Adams presents the basic form
of his theory by asserting that two statements are equivalent:
• 1. It is wrong to do X.
• 2. It is contrary to God's commands to do X.
•Adams believes that what God commands is
right and that God will never command
wrong
Robert Adam’s Modified Divine Command - A

33. • He proposes that God's commands precurse moral truths and they
must be explained in terms of moral truths, not the other way
around.
•Adams argues that God’s knowledge of right
and wrong comes before what is right and
wrong so therefore what he commands is
right
Robert Adam’s Modified Divine Command - B

34. • Adams writes that his theory is an attempt to define what being
ethically 'wrong' consists of and accepts that it is only useful to those
within a Judeo-Christian context.
•Adams accepts that divine command theory
is only useful for religious believers (Jewish
and Christian)
Robert Adam’s Modified Divine Command - C

35. • In dealing with the criticism that a seemingly immoral act would be
obligatory if God commanded it, he proposes that God does not
command cruelty for its own sake.
•God will only ever command cruelty if there
is a reason/purpose behind it
Robert Adam’s Modified Divine Command - D

36. • Adams does not propose that it would be logically impossible for God to
command cruelty, rather that it would be unthinkable for him to do so
because of his nature. Adams emphasises the importance of faith in God,
specifically faith in God's goodness, as well as his existence.
•Adams argues that God could command cruelty
because he is all powerful, but he won’t
command cruelty for cruelty’s sake because he
is all loving
Robert Adam’s Modified Divine Command - E

37. • Adams proposes that an action is morally wrong if and only if it defies the commands of
a loving God. If cruelty was commanded for cruelty’s own sake, he would not be loving;
Adams argued that, in this instance, God's commands would not have to be obeyed and
also that his theory of ethical wrongness would break down. He proposed that divine
command morality assumes that human concepts of right and wrong are met by God's
commands and that the theory can only be applied if this is the case.
• Humans will always follow what God commands because
it matches their own understanding of right and wrong. If
God did ever command something wrong, then humans
wouldn’t do it and the concept of God would collapse
(which it hasn’t)
Robert Adam’s Modified Divine Command - F

38. • Adams theory attempts to counter the challenge that morality might
be arbitrary, as moral commands are not based solely on the
commands of God, but are founded on his omnibenevolence. It
attempts to challenge the claim that an external standard of morality
prevents God from being sovereign by making him the source of
morality and his character the moral law.
•Basically, Adams argues that because God is
omnibenevolent he will never command
actual cruelty.
Robert Adam’s Modified Divine Command - G

39. Questions
• 1. Why must God’s command precurse a moral truth?
• 2. Which two religions is Adams writing his version of Divine Command
theory for?
• 3. What does Adams mean when he says that God wouldn’t command
cruelty for cruelty’s own sake?
• 4. Why does Adams claim that God would never command cruelty?
• 5. Why is faith so important for Adams Divine Command Theory?
• 6. If God did command something wrong for cruelty’s sake, would we still
have to commit the cruel act?
• 7. Why is God’s omnibenevolence as important as his omnipotence for
Adams’ theory?

40. Discussion Topic
• From what you have learnt so far, is morality what God commands?
• Think of 3 reasons why some people might think morality IS what God
commands
• Think of 3 reasons why some people might think morality ISN’T what
God commands

41. Divine Command Theory – Arbitrariness
and Pluralism objections
By the end of this lesson you will have:
• Discovered how arbitrariness and pluralism
are objections against Divine Command
Theory
• Considered whether or not you think
morality is what God commands
• Ensured that you understand Divine
Command Theory

42. Robert Adam’s Divine command Theory
• Write a paragraph on Adam’s Divine Command Theory. Include the
following phrases.
• Euthyphro Dilemma
• Omnipotent
• Cruelty
• Omnibenevolence
• Arbitrary
• Example (i.e. God bullying Job)

43. Spec Check – Divine Command Theory
Ethical Theory Issues for Analysis
A. Divine Command Theory
Meta-Ethical theory – God as the origin and regulator
of morality; right or wrong as objective truths based
on God’s will or command. Moral goodness is
achieved by compiling with divine command; divine
command a requirement of God’s omnipotence;
divine command as an objective meta-physical
foundation for morality. Robert Adam’s ‘modified
divine command theory’.
The Euthyphro dilemma, the arbitrariness problem,
pluralism objection
Is morality what God commands?

44. Arbitrary
• adjective
• 1.
• based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or
system.
• "an arbitrary decision"

45. The Arbitrariness Problem
• We have already touched upon the arbitrary problem as we have
already seen Bible passages in which God commands pointless tasks.
• This can be seen as a problem within itself, not just as part of the
Euthyphro Dilemma
• The arbitrariness problem is the problem that divine command theory
appears to render the content of morality arbitrary (arbitrary means
based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or
system). If divine command theory is true, it seems, then what is
good and what bad depends on nothing more than God’s whims.
Whims, though, even God’s whims, are not an adequate foundation
for morality.

46. The Pluralism Objection
• In a world of religious pluralism (many different religions) it is
impossible to know which god's or religion's commands should be
followed, especially because some religions contradict each other,
making it impossible to accept all of them
• EG
• Divorce is acceptable in Islam, but not in Christianity
• Islam expect that people should convert to Islam, but Christians
believe the only true way to an afterlife is through Jesus Christ
• Task: Why does this pose a problem for people who are basing their
moral codes on Divine Command?

47. • This is made even more complicated when we look at the different Divine
Commands WITHIN the different religions!
• For example the split between Sunni and Shi’a Muslims
• Sunni and Shia are two different denominations of Muslims
• All Muslims are required to pray five times a day. However, Shi'a practice
permits combining some prayers into three daily prayer times.
• They arrive at these through interpreting Divine Command differently
• TASK: What other examples can you think of where different
denominations of a religion have different ideas of Divine Command?
The Pluralism Objection

48. The Arbitrariness Problem
• Write a paragraph which states why God’s arbitrariness is a problem
for Divine Command. Relate it back to an example of goodness.
• In this paragraph you need to mention the following things:
• Whim
• Exodus 23 (Boiling a kid in mother’s milk)
• Problem for a basis of moral decision making

49. The Pluralism Objection
• Write a paragraph which states why religious pluralism is a problem
for Divine Command. Relate it back to an example of goodness.
• In this paragraph you need to mention the following things:
• Difference
• Contradiction
• Can’t be objective
• Clash

50. Divine Command Theory – Arbitrariness
and Pluralism objections
By the end of this lesson you will have:
• Discovered how arbitrariness and pluralism
are objections against Divine Command
Theory
• Considered whether or not you think
morality is what God commands
• Ensured that you understand Divine
Command Theory