God's command / John E. Hare.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hare, J. E., 1949- author.

Contributor:

Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

Series:

Oxford studies in theological ethics

Oxford Studies in Theological Ethics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Christian ethics--Reformed authors.

Christian ethics.

Divine commands (Ethics).

Physical Description:

xi, 336 pages ; 24 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2015.

Summary:

This work focuses on divine command, and in particular the theory that what makes something obligatory is that God commands it, and what makes something wrong is that God commands us not to do it. Focusing on the Abrahamic faiths, eminent scholar John E. Hare explains that two experiences have had to be integrated. The first is that God tells us to do something, or not to do something. The second is that we have to work out ourselves what to do and what not to do. The difficulty has come in establishing the proper relation between them. In Christian reflection on this, two main traditions have emerged, divine command theory and natural law theory. Professor Hare successfully defends a version of divine command theory, but also shows that there is considerable overlap with some versions of natural law theory. He engages with a number of Christian theologians, particularly Karl Barth, and extends into a discussion of divine command within Judaism and Islam.0The work concludes by examining recent work in evolutionary psychology, and argues that thinking of our moral obligations as produced by divine command offers us some help in seeing how a moral conscience could develop in a way that is evolutionarily stable.

Contents:

1 Morality and Religion 1

Introduction 1

1.1 The Argument from Providence 5

1.2 The Argument from Grace 11

1.3 The Argument from Justification 16

1.4 God's Command and the Scope of Obligation 25

2 What is a Divine Command? 32

Introduction 32

2.1 Five Types of Prescription 33

2.1.1 Prescription in General 33

2.1.2 Precepts 37

2.1.3 Prohibitions 41

2.1.4 Permissions 42

2.1.5 Counsels 44

2.1.6 Directly Effective Commands 48

2.2 Divine Authority 49

2.3 Barth on Divine Command 55

2.3.1 Six Implications of Our Being Commanded by God 55

2.3.2 Three Puzzles 57

3 Eudaemonism 63

Introduction 63

3.1 Does Morality Make You Happy? 63

3.2 The Sources of Motivation 67

3.2.1 A Single-Source View: Aristotle 68

3.2.2 A Double-Source View: Scotus 72

3.2.3 Two Errors of Kant 75

3.3 Four Attempted Defences of Eudaemonism 77

3.3.1 The First Defence: Epicurean 78

3.3.2 The Second Defence: Stoic 83

3.3.3 The Third Defence: Thomist 86

3.3.4 The Fourth Defence: Agent-Transcendent Eudaemonism 94

4 Can We Deduce Morality from Human Nature? 99

Introduction 99

4.1 Scotus 100

4.1.1 The Non-Deducibility of the Law from our Nature 100

4.1.2 The Fittingness of the Law to our Nature 102

4.1.3 The Social Character of Obligation 109

4.2 Consensus Deductivism 112

4.3 Prescriptivism 117

4.3.1 Motivation 118

4.3.2 Moral Properties 121

4.3.3 Ideals 124

4.4 Foot and Hursthouse on Deductivism 128

4.4.1 Too Much and Too Little 128

4.4.2 Good Roots and Good Wolves 130

4.4.3 The Good Promise-Keeper 135

5 Barth on Divine Command 142

Introduction 142

5.1 Barth on Particularity 143

5.1.1 The Specific Individual 143

5.1.2 Haecceity 145

5.1.3 The Positions in a Moral Judgement 147

5.1.4 Barth on Universality 151

5.2 Barth's Account of Human Freedom 157

5.2.1 Three Pictures of Freedom 157

5.2.2 The Canaanite Woman 164

5.3 Barth and our Access to the Commands 166

5.3.1 Barth and Kant 166

5.3.2 Kant on Conscience 169

5.3.3 The Tradition's Resources for Assessing the Command 173

6 Divine Command in Some Medieval Islamic Thinkers 184

Introduction 184

6.1 Intrinsic Value 187

6.1.1 Abd al-Jabbar 188

6.1.2 Al-Ash'ari 195

6.1.3 Al-Maturidi 197

6.2 Human Freedom 203

6.2.1 Abd al-Jabbar 204

6.2.2 Al-Ash'ari 206

6.2.3 Al-Maturidi 209

6.3 Revelation and Reason 212

6.3.1 'Abd al-Jabbar 213

6.3.2 Al-Ash'ari 215

6.3.3 Al-Maturidi 217

7 Divine Command in Some Recent Jewish Thinkers 223

Introduction 223

7.1 Marvin Fox on Maimonides 224

7.1.1 An Esoteric Text 224

7.1.2 Maimonides on the Mean 226

7.1.3 Maimonides on the Reasons for the Commandments 230

7.2 David Novak 235

7.2.1 The Current Situation of Judaism 236

7.2.2 Novak on Maimonides 239

7.2.3 Novak on the Noahide Laws 243

7.3 Franz Rosenzweig 247

7.3.1 Introduction 247

7.3.2 Creation: The Disappearance of God 249

7.3.3 Revelation: Initiative and Response 251

7.3.4 Redemption: Revelation and Creation Seen Backwards 256

8 Divine Command and Evolutionary Psychology 261

Introduction 261

8.1 The Story 263

8.2 Evolution and Reducing the Moral Demand 264

8.2.1 Herbert Spencer and Larry Arnhart 264

8.2.2 Jonathan Haidt 267

8.3 Evolution and Anti-Realism 273

8.3.1 John Mackie 273

8.3.2 Michael Ruse 275

8.3.3 Sharon Street 278

8.3.4 Paul Bloom 281

8.4 Transcending our Evolutionary Situation without God 285

8.4.1 Joshua Greene 286

8.4.2 Philip Kitcher 292

8.5 Transcending our Evolutionary Situation with God 300

9 Summary 309.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

0199602018

9780199602018

OCLC:

931998442

Publisher Number:

99965863638