History of Philosophy A

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History of Philosophy A

• Lecture Three Medieval Ethics II

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Recap

• Last lecture we
• Introduced the Euthyphro Dilemma
• Examined Ockhams Divine Command Theory

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This Lecture

• Well look at some reasons why people think
  Ockham is wrong
• Problem one Arbitrariness
• Problem two Undermines Gods goodness
• Problem three Ockhams Conscience
• We then look at a competing medieval theory
  Aquinas Natural Law theory.

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This Lecture

• Well look at some reasons why people think
  Ockham is wrong
• Problem one Arbitrariness
• Problem two Undermines Gods goodness
• Problem three Ockhams Conscience
• We then look at a competing medieval theory
  Aquinas Natural Law theory.

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Problem One Arbitrariness

• The first problem was mentioned last lecture.
• In fact, its not one problem but two problems
  often run together.
• In its first formulation theres a concern that
  God now gets to make arbitrary moral assertions.
• Example Left sock before right sock.
• Example Theft is acceptable.
• Example Genocide was okay yesterday, but is
  wrong today.
• (although does the Bible support such a reading?)

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Problem One Arbitrariness

• And it also works the other way around.
• Not only would it be weird if the world was that
  way, but its weird that the moral strictures we
  currently have are that way.
• Example Rape is only wrong because God says so.
• A more religious example Sacrilege is only wrong
  because God says so.
• There are intuitions that theres a reason that
  these things are wrong.
• That, if there is a God, He sees that reason and
  so tells us not to do it.
• He Himself didnt make up the reason.

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Problem One Arbitrariness

• But theres another source of arbitrariness.
• Imagine God cobbled together an utterly random
  set of strictures.
• Its like Calvinball.

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Problem One Arbitrariness

• God might demand that killing innocents is only
  wrong one a Tuesday, unless youre wearing a red
  t-shirt in which case its wrong every other day
  of the week.
• He might say we are obliged to marry all people
  named Nigel.
• He might order that we all do the funky chicken
  whenever someone says the word frugal, and that
  failure to do so is worse than any other sin.
• Its just crackers!
• You might have the intuition that necessarily a
  framework of strictures to count as a moral
  framework must have some sense to it.
• It must be well ordered, rational, motivated by
  similar aims etc.

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This Lecture

• Well look at some reasons why people think
  Ockham is wrong
• Problem one Arbitrariness
• Problem two Undermines Gods goodness
• Problem three Ockhams Conscience
• We then look at a competing medieval theory
  Aquinas Natural Law theory.

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Problem Two Gods Goodness

• One motivation for DCT was that for it to be
  otherwise would undermine Gods power.
• That if God had no control over the moral laws,
  He would be somehow limited and not omnipotent.
• But theres a right back at you problem
  lurking.
• Some worry that if DCT were true itd actually
  undermine Gods omnibenevolence.

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Problem Two Gods Goodness

• Gods goodness is meant to be an admirable
  quality a really great thing.
• Heck, its one of the reasons Hes meant to be
  worshipped.
• But given DCT, so the argument goes, all God is
  omnibenevolent amounts to is God doing what He
  wants to do.
• Thats not admirable, thats easy.
• We can all do what we feel like.

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Problem Two Gods Goodness

• So DCT removes from God an admirable quality.
• Or a slightly different way to look at it.
• The phrase God is good is meant to be
  informative.
• But now its uninformative as it just says that
  He does what He does.
• Compare Next semester well look at Descartes.
• Hell suggest there might be something just like
  God but evil.
• Given DCT thats conceptually impossible a
  contradiction to even think about.

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This Lecture

• Well look at some reasons why people think
  Ockham is wrong
• Problem one Arbitrariness
• Problem two Undermines Gods goodness
• Problem three Ockhams Conscience
• We then look at a competing medieval theory
  Aquinas Natural Law theory.

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Problem Three Ockhams Conscience

• This objection is more specific to Ockhams DCT.
• His notion of using your conscience to figure out
  what the moral law is, is kind of weird.
• If I look inside myself and my conscience seems
  to tell me that brutally killing and eating
  people is okay, then apparently thats good
  justification for doing it.
• So what if Im Hannibal Lecter?

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Problem Three Ockhams Conscience

• It looks like there are questions to be asked
  about Ockhams moral epistemology.
• We might have serious misgivings.
• Although this might be more a problem with
  Ockhams theory than DCT in general.

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Counterarguments

• Lets recap whats gone on in the last two
  lectures.
• Weve introduced arguments for DCT.
• Weve introduced reasons not to believe DCT.
• Two points to note.

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Counterarguments

• Point one
• Ive intentionally left aside in-depth criticisms
  of the arguments for and against.
• Are there things wrong with Ockhams argument for
  DCT?
• Sure!
• Are there things wrong with the three arguments
  against DCT?
• Sure!

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Counterarguments

• Whats wrong with them?
• Well why should I tell you that?
• Coming up with rebuttals to these arguments is
  what youre here for.
• You are not here to learn arguments verbatim.
• Thats pointless, and would also spoil the fun.

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Counterarguments

• The arguments weve given, both for and against,
  have been intentionally picked such that they
  have flaws I think you can locate.
• Whilst not being idiotically ridiculous.
• Ive done this because this is the first year and
  youve got to learn how to argue how to give
  objections on your own.
• Its one of those essential study skills I talked
  about in Lecture One.

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Learning Skills

• What a philosopher cares about are the reasons to
  accept that opinion, and whether they are good
  reasons or not.
• They care about the arguments that you one can
  give for a particular point.
• No position we study is obvious (if it were, why
  would we study it?) so every position is open to
  criticism.
• So philosophers also care about the
  counterarguments against such criticism.
• If you are to succeed, you must get used to
  offering arguments, acknowledging criticisms and
  giving counterarguments against such criticism.

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Learning Skills

• What a philosopher cares about are the reasons to
  accept that opinion, and whether they are good
  reasons or not.
• They care about the arguments that you one can
  give for a particular point.
• No position we study is obvious (if it were, why
  would we study it?) so every position is open to
  criticism.
• So philosophers also care about the
  counterarguments against such criticism.
• If you are to succeed, you must get used to
  offering arguments, acknowledging criticisms and
  giving counterarguments against such criticism.

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Counterarguments

• So thats why Im light on further detail.
• Only a COMPLETE AND UTTER MORON would think that
  the arguments presented in this lecture are (i)
  exhaustive or (ii) worthy, by themselves, to be
  repeated in an essay.
• What you need to do is come up with some
  rebuttals to these arguments, and present those
  rebuttals in your essays.
• Get them by
• Coming up with them yourself
• Coming up with them as part of group work
• Reading books and (whilst referencing correctly!)
  using someone elses

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Counterarguments

• Any questions?
• Point Two
• The problems given here arent exactly responses
  to the motivations for DCT.
• We introduced two motivations
• The Non-Existence of Universals
• The Curbing of Gods Power
• We had three problems
• Problem one Arbitrariness
• Problem two Undermines Gods goodness
• Problem three Ockhams Conscience
• Note how the problems dont explain why the
  motivations are flawed!

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Counterarguments

• And they cant both be right!
• The motivations cant be flawless and the
  problems be flawless!
• Thatd entail a contradiction!
• (Youd be obliged to believe P and not believe
  P)
• Keep that in mind, particularly when writing
  essays.
• An evaluation of a position isnt giving some
  for reasons and some against reasons.
• Its about picking one reason and sticking with
  that reason showing whether that reason works
  or not.

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Counterarguments

• Nor is this comment limited to this lecture!
• For the rest of the course (for the rest of your
  other courses!) these things apply and should be
  born in mind.
• I just want to make these matters explicit.
• From here on in, we wont have time to make these
  matters explicit.
• But you are expected to realise it yourself.

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This Lecture

• Well look at some reasons why people think
  Ockham is wrong
• Problem one Arbitrariness
• Problem two Undermines Gods goodness
• Problem three Ockhams Conscience
• We then look at a competing medieval theory
  Aquinas Natural Law theory.

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St. Thomas Aquinas (1225 74 AD)

• Started his education at age 5, at Monte Cassino.
• It turned into a battleground between Emperor
  Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX
• (The Church had him excommunicated. A few
  times.)
• Aquinas went to the University of Naples, studied
  there and got into Aristotle and, importantly,
  met the Dominicans.

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St. Thomas Aquinas (1225 74 AD)

• Decided to become a Dominican, which annoyed his
  parents.
• So much in fact, they kidnapped him and held him
  for two years.
• His brothers even hired him a hooker to seduce
  him.
• He beat her back with a burning stick.

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St. Thomas Aquinas (1225 74 AD)

• His mother, realising the battle was lost,
  arranged for him to escape.
• This was to spare her the embarrassment of having
  him released.
• He then went and joined the Dominican order.

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St. Thomas Aquinas (1225 74 AD)

• Like Augustine, he became a famous philosopher
  and theologian.
• Wrote numerous texts, including the Summa
  Theologica (written in the form of articles)
• Stopped in 1273 after a religious experience /
  stroke or nervous breakdown caused him to have a
  vision.
• Delete as applicable
• After that, he refused to write anymore
  philosophy, convinced it was all like straw

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St. Thomas Aquinas (1225 74 AD)

• A few months later he had to travel, and whilst
  on his donkey accidentally hit a branch with his
  head.
• He fell ill, and whilst he recovered slightly, he
  quickly fell ill again and died.
• Fifty years after his death he was pronounced a
  Saint.

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St. Thomas Aquinas (1225 74 AD)

• It was hard finding a miracle for him.
• The best they had was that a sick man fancied
  some herrings.
• The next delivery of sardines, which Thomas took,
  contained herrings!
• That wasnt good enough.
• The Pope nevertheless canonized him saying
• There are as many miracles as there are
  articles of the Summa

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Thomist Ethics

• Aquinass philosophy is called Thomist
  philosophy.
• He did not take the heretical line of Ockham on
  the Euthyphro Dilemma.
• Aquinas said that morality was more fundamental
  than Gods commands that God commanded P
  because P was obligatory.
• But this doesnt limit Gods power.
• God would never want to do immoral things Hes
  all good!
• If He would never want to do immoral things, He
  isnt constrained by the fact He cant ordain
  moral law Himself.

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Back to counterarguments

• Notice how that is a response to a previous
  problem.
• One argument for DCT is that otherwise God could
  not be omnipotent.
• Heres Aquinas arguing that, in fact, this view
  is misguided.
• So here Aquinas is offering a counterargument to
  a motivation for DCT.

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Thomist Ethics

• Nor does Aquinas stop there.
• He provides his own ethical system.
• Aquinas was heavily influenced by Aristotle.
• Aristotle was very into teleology.
• Teleology is all to do with the functions of
  things.
• So, Aristotle said, everything has a function.

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Thomist Ethics

• Aquinas, like Aristotle, thinks that to lead a
  good life we should fulfil these functions.
• And, like Ockham, he believes that people from
  non-Christian religions can also figure out their
  moral obligations.
• They can do so by attending to their natural
  inclinations.
• There are three levels of inclinations.

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Thomist Ethics

• First level Those inclinations shared by all
  living things.
• Self preservation
• Second level Those inclinations shared by all
  animals.
• Reproduction, caring for the young
• Third level Those specifically human
  inclinations.
• Rationality

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Thomist Ethics

• So we figure out what to do on the basis of these
  natural inclinations.
• Since we are inclined to reason, we shouldnt
  engage in practices that deprive us of reason.
• Example Getting blind drunk
• This is known as natural law.
• Notice that this means we can, if Aquinas is
  right, figure out what things are right or wrong
  by looking at nature.
• So he has a variant moral epistemology from
  Ockham.

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Thomist Ethics

• Well see more of Thomas Aquinas in the
  forthcoming lectures.
• But thats enough of an introduction to ethics in
  general.

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Next Lecture

• God and the Problem of Evil.