RE: On theism, why do humans have moral duties even if there are objective moral values?
May 19, 2022 at 11:05 pm
(This post was last modified: May 19, 2022 at 11:06 pm by Belacqua.)
Quote:I was listening to William Lane Craig's moral argument. Even if we grant him that God exists and objective morality exists and god is the basis of objective morality, why do humans have moral duties? Why do we have to be good and do good other than for a selfish interest in going to heaven? He just claims that we do have moral duties (just like he claims by fiat that objective moral values exist). But why, on theism, do humans have a moral duty to be good?
You could break this down into separate questions.
Quote:Even if we grant him that God exists and objective morality exists and god is the basis of objective morality, why do humans have moral duties?
First, some atheists believe that objective morality exists. Its objectivity doesn't necessarily mean that it comes from God. You could ask: if there is (non-God-given) objective morality, why do humans have moral duties? That would simplify part of the question, by leaving out the divine part.
Quote:Why do we have to be good and do good other than for a selfish interest in going to heaven?
You seem to be assuming that if an objective morality comes from God, then the only reason to be good is to want, selfishly, to go to Heaven. I'm not sure that's true. One could want to be a good person for other reasons, as well. In fact, they might be some of the same reasons why atheists ought to be good.
