God & Objective Morals

[Neo-Scholastic]

{hugs fallen and whateverist}

Are you a dualist?

Dualism comes in many varieties. I have only recently become aware of some of their names. My current opinion seems to roughly coincide with the hylomorphic dualism of Aquinas. In effect, I believe that a proper understanding of reality must include formal and final causes if it purports to adequately account for all relevant phenomena.

Is this why your project necessarily has to search in the physical world, because without anything physical to latch on to, morality is basically by definition subjective?

I wouldn’t call it my project to find a physical basis for morality. I contend that the attempt to do so is futile. And most of the responses, here and elsewhere indicate that atheists, as a general rule, accept this fact. The problem I have is that these same atheists then turn around and deny that this leads to moral nihilism.

…if you think it's possible for a divine being and objective morals to exist…

I do not believe that an objective basis for morality is possible. I say that because I understand ‘objective’ to mean folk notions, such as ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, could be directly translated into the language of physics. If physicalism is true this would be at least theoretically possible, even it were practically incalculable.

The lack of an objective morality does not mean that divine commands must be arbitrary or capricious. All that is required is a perfect moral standard by which the actions and intentions of people can be compared.