God and Morality Part 1

Part 1 of a pair. Stephen considers the relationship between morality and God. Specifically, he asks: is morality the same thing as the commands of God? Is there no morality if there is no God? Ultimately, Stephen will argue that morality and God’s commands are distinct, even if there is a God and she commands moral things. However, in this first video, Steve considers why you might like the view that morality just is God’s commands.

Andrew Downey Orrick Professor of Philosophy at Yale University

I teach in the Department of Philosophy at Yale University.  I taught for twenty-four years at the University of Michigan and, before that, for twelve at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  My books include Impartial Reason,  The British Moralists and the Internal ‘Ought’, Philosophical Ethics, and Welfare and Rational Care.  My most recent books are The Second-Person Standpoint: Morality, Respect, and Accountability, Morality, Authority, and Law: Essays in Second-Personal Ethics I, and Honor, History, and Relationship: Essays in Second-Personal Ethics II. I have also edited various anthologies in metaethics and normative ethics:  Moral Discourse and Practice, Contractarianism/Contractualism, Consequentialism, Deontology, and Virtue Ethics.

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