command theory

imperative theory

(associated with Jeremy Bentham and John Austin) is based on the notion of commands issued by a sovereign. Bentham did not insist that the sovereign power be single, indivisible and answerable to no one. The habit of obedience to the commands of the sovereign is an important aspect of the theory. The basic idea involves the incorporation of sanctions, which are penalties laid down in a law for the contravention of its provisions. While explaining criminal law reasonably adequately, it is much more difficult to incorporate aspects of civil law.

See HARTIAN JURISPRUDENCE, KELSINIAN JURISPRUDENCE, REALISM.

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References in periodicals archive ?

Yet he does a superb job of defending secular ethics and critiquing religious morality: he discusses the Divine Command Theory (if God commands a certain kind of behavior, we must carry it out), the Euthyphro dilemma (is an action good because the gods command it, or do the gods condone an action because it is good in itself?

Apostate! No More Bazoodee: A Grenadian Quest to Think Outside the Box

Voluntarism thus includes classic divine command theory, according to which all moral necessity and every moral property originates solely in God.

Murphy, Mark C.: God and Moral Law: On the Theistic Explanation of Morality

The following tool may be suggested which we shall call the Labour Command Theory of Wage Differentials (4) Cost of production may be split into wages, rent and profit.

Impact of hike in U.S. H-1B/L-1 visa fees for technically-skilled employees of foreign companies: the U.S. administration step towards indigenization with emphasis on equal pay for equal work is commendable

This essay shows three things: first, that we cannot comply with a command from God to believe in God; second, that God cannot command us to believe in God; and, third, that the divine command theory is false.

Ratio: Vol. 28, No. 2, June 2015

For Chapter 4, "Divine Command Theory Ethics," Kowalski first summarizes the horror film Frailty (2001) and uses it, along with the films Evan Almighty (2007), and The Boondock Saints (1999) as films that are "expressive of themes relevant to divine command theory (p.

Kowalski, Dean A.: Moral Theory at the Movies: An Introduction to Ethics

For me, atheism is the rejection of unsubstantiated supernatural beliefs, especially divine command theory.

Free will, robots, wasps, atheophobia

Part III then explores Kierkegaard's strategies for showing the moral limits of autonomy (whether individual or social) and sketches the Dane's own divine command theory of moral obligation.

Robert Stern: Understanding Moral Obligation. Kant, Hegel, Kierkegaard

But you won't find adherence to a divine command theory of meta-ethics among them.

God made me do it: there has been some interesting debate in the blogosphere over Sam Harris' contention that a divine command theory of ethics manifests "a psychopathic and psychotic moral attitude."

Many students subscribe to the widely held view that what is good is what God approves of or commands and what is bad is what God disapproves of or forbids, known as the divine command theory of ethics.

Teaching moral philosophy using novels: issues and strategies

Mark Murphy identifies a version of the divine command theory according to which, he claims, "no normative states of affairs obtain prior to God's willing" (1998: 11).

Could morality have a source?

Aquinas's metaphysics of participation allows for a natural theology that begins with the first principles of morality but does not rely on the divine command theory for its overall formulation (see, for instance, the "Fourth Way" in the Summa theologiae).

Perfecting Human Actions: St. Thomas Aquinas on Participation in Eternal Law

Ingram and Parks, both professors of philosophy at Loyola University, cover both theory and history and fully explore ideas such as divine command theory and the ancient Greek virtue ethics.