The Euthyphro dilemma Michael Lacewing

The question Can God make right be wrong, or good bad? Is morality whatever God wills it to be or is morality something independent of God?

The first lemma If morality is independent of what God wills, then God cannot make what is wrong be right –God wills what is morally right because it is right. But then, to be good, God must conform his will to something independent of himself –This places a constraint on God, and God is not omnipotent.

The second lemma If morality is whatever God wills, then if God wills what is (now) morally wrong, then what is wrong will become right –What is morally right is right because God wills it. But then, ‘God is good’ states a tautology – whatever God wills is, by definition, good. And morality is arbitrary –Why does God will what he wills?

‘God is good’ ‘God is good’ = ‘God is good to us’ –God wants what is best for us –But then what is best for us provides an independent standard for God’s goodness, so morality is independent of God. ‘God is good’ is not moral, but metaphysical, i.e. ‘God has all perfections’ –But does that entail that God is morally good? –If so, ‘God is (morally) good’ is a tautology –If not, then morality is independent of God.

Morality is arbitrary If morality is dependent of God, whatever God willed would be morally right –Killing babies? If God willed it? –There are no reasons for God to will what he does. Reply: God’s will is guided by God’s love –Objection: this makes love the standard of morality –Reply: no, God’s love – so nothing independent of God –But is God’s love arbitrary?

Properties and concepts It is not an analytic truth that God is good –‘God’ and ‘morally good’ are different concepts. However, goodness is the same property as what God wills. Compare: it is not an analytic truth that water is H 2 O –‘Water’ and ‘H 2 O’ are different concepts –But water is identical to H 2 O. Good = what God wills, not conceptually but metaphysically.

Knowledge and reality But unless we have an independent standard of goodness, we cannot claim that God’s will and what is good are the same thing. True, just as we can only judge that water is H 2 O if we have some independent idea of what water is But this doesn’t show that water is not H 2 O, So we need some reason to think that morality is what God wills but that doesn’t show that they are distinct.