Philosophia Christi

Volume 18, Issue 1, 2016

Ethics: Just War as Deterrence Against Terrorism?

Blake McAllister
Pages 65-78

Divine Command Theory and Moral Supervenience

Mark Murphy argues that the property identity version of divine command theory, coupled with the doctrine that God has freedom in commanding, violates the supervenience of the moral on the nonmoral. In other words, they permit two situations exactly alike in nonmoral facts to differ in moral facts. I give three arguments to show that a divine command theorist of this sort can consistently affirm moral supervenience. Each argument contends that there are always nonmoral differences between worlds with different divine commands. If there are such nonmoral differences, then there’s no conflict between divine command theory and moral supervenience.