Robert Merrithew Addams: A Modified Divine Command Theory Of Ethical Wrongness

The article written by Robert Merrithew Addams, A Modified Divine Command Theory of Ethical Wrongness, expresses a unique view of the Divine Command Theory in which Addams has modified to answer certain controversial issues. The main controversy being towards the theory’s implications of ethical wrongness and the different situations it can be applied. In Plato’s, Euthyphro, the controversy can be seen through the statement, “… nor the pious the same as the god-loved,” (70). This argument presents questions of what applies towards someone’s beliefs in God. Furthermore, the original theory, according to Addams, implies a connection between “wrong,” and “contrary towards God’s commands,” (39). Addams presents an issue with this connection, with the reasoning that if God were to command cruelty for its own sake then it would be against God’s will to disobey Him (?). Thus, Addams has created a modified version of the overall theory where it is stated that it is neither wrong nor right to disobey God, especially if they were to command …show more content…
Maybe he did fear that there might have been flaw if he did in fact answered the question himself. For Addams’s sake, his theory is applicable only if God lacks human virtues that do not directly categorize God as good. The downside is that if human virtues prove to actually categorize God as good then the Modified Divine Command Theory would no longer be needed. All of this assumes that God has a set of commands in which could be influenced by the human virtues God contains. Nevertheless, the Modified Divine Command Theory provides a good alternative to the highly controversial original Divine Command Theory. Readers get a chance to decide which one they choose to believe, which Addams does a good job proposing his own theory. Modified or not the choice of what you believe is completely up to