Philosophy 1020 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Divine Command Theory, Christian Fundamentalism, Presupposition
2 Apr 2016
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Blackburn assumes that lots of people are atheist. Blackburn"s assumption: lots of people do not believe in god. An ethical theory: the divine command theory. Something is morally wrong just in case god forbids it. Something is morally right just in case god commands it. Something is permissible if god neither commands nor forbids it. If god doesn"t exist their wont be any commands and their wont be anything forbidden and then it will seem as though everything is permissible. If something was forbidden, then there would have to be god to forbid it. The threat arises out of the presupposition: god exists. Blackburn is certainly willing to reject the presupposition. The threat is only a threat if you tie ethics to gods existence. God may exist but that is not really a relevant question for ethics. If blackburn can convince you of that he has diffused the threat.
