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Analytical Theism

Ethics

The study of right and wrong, virtue and vice, and the foundations of morality—grounded in the moral nature of God.

The Moral Argument

Objective morality provides evidence for God. If moral truths are objective, what grounds them? Naturalism struggles to answer.

The moral argument: If God does not exist, objective moral values do not exist. But objective moral values do exist. Therefore, God exists. This argument has been defended by C.S. Lewis, William Lane Craig, and many others.

  • Grounding Problem: What grounds objective moral truths? Naturalism struggles here. Moral facts seem to require a moral foundation.
  • Divine Nature: Morality is grounded in God's nature—God is the Good. God's commands flow from His character.
  • Moral Lawgiver: Objective moral law requires a moral lawgiver. Laws imply a legislator; moral obligations imply a moral authority.
  • Euthyphro Dilemma: Is something good because God commands it, or does God command it because it's good? Answer: God's nature is the standard of goodness.

Virtue Ethics

The classical tradition focuses on character and human flourishing. Aristotle asked: What is the good life? What kind of person should I become?

Christianity adopted and transformed virtue ethics. The cardinal virtues—prudence, justice, temperance, courage—are completed by the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love.

  • Human Nature: Virtue ethics is grounded in human nature and its proper function. What is good for humans depends on what humans are.
  • Telos: Humans have a purpose—flourishing requires fulfilling that purpose. Our telos is union with God—the beatific vision.
  • Theological Virtues: Faith, hope, and love complete the natural virtues. Grace perfects nature; the supernatural fulfills the natural.
  • The Divine Algorithm: Radical honesty, orientation toward the greatest good, iterative recalibration—virtue as a process of becoming.

Related Papers

1 paper in Ethics

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