Appeals to God

Abstract

Theological accounts of morality offer to explain its appearance of objective authority by invoking the will and purposes of God. Moral rightness and wrongness are explicated in terms of what God demands and forbids, and/or (on an approach consistent with natural law theory) by appeal to an objectively proper way of life for human beings. When examined carefully, theological accounts run into difficulties. As more theologically complex accounts of morality are offered, God’s role begins to diminish, and in any event there is much in our observation of the world that renders these accounts implausible.