PHL277Y5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Divine Command Theory, Cultural Relativism, Relativism
Document Summary
I talked about an idea that comes naturally to people these days, but that none of our authors shares. The idea is that truths about what is right and good are created by attitudes. This idea takes different forms depending on whose attitudes you take to be doing the work. If it"s god"s attitudes, then you are saying right acts are right because god commands them. If it"s the prevailing attitudes, perhaps the moral judgments, of a society then you are saying right acts are right because the society approves of them. If it"s the attitudes of the individual then you are saying acts are right because the individual approves of them. The first form is one version of the divine command theory. (the other version of the divine command theory says god commands us to do what is right, but. God commands those actions because they are right; it isn"t that they are right because god commands them. )
