Normative Ethics And Ethical Ethics - 1586 Words

Normative ethics is a study that tries to determine which things are good, which actions are right, which motives are worthy and which character traits are virtues. In other words, normative ethics is a philosophy about what we should morally do. Metaethics is a theory about normative ethics which is concerned about what exactly do normative ethics are claiming. This is a philosophy about the nature of moral claims, moral judgements and moral disagreements made by the normative ethics. Many theologians believe that religion is the only basis for morality. The Divine Command Theory is a view that an action, behaviour, choice is morally good or right because it is commanded by God and something is morally bad or wrong if God forbids it†¦show more content†¦Divine command theorist claim that since God’s character and nature is perfectly good, He would not command us or allow us to act in a way that He forbids or is bad for us (Alston 1990, p. 317). Because God is a legi timate authority and commands us to act in ways that are morally right, then that alone can serve as a reason for us to act and obey such commands regardless of our desires being satisfied or not. For example, believers of God who believes that God’s commands or wills has some motivation for us to do x may think that this is their motivational force. However, what about the atheists who don’t believe in God? Some people can make moral judgements without believing in God at all and this then leaves a possible claim that not all moral judgements require motivational force. Thus, it seems that atheists contradict themselves when they make moral judgements. For instance, Atheists may say that â€Å"God doesn’t exist and lying is wrong and if the divine command theory is true then it actually means that â€Å"God doesn’t exist and God commands or wills that we do not lie† which is obviously inconsistent. Furthermore, the divine command theory poses wh at is called a Euthyphro-like dilemma which deals on the question whether â€Å"an act is pious because it is loved by the gods or is loved by the gods because it is pious† (Alston 1990, p. 304). In this case, is an action good or