God and Morality Part 2

Part 2 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? Stephen thinks the answer to both these questions is ‘no’. He argues that, if you believe God exists and that we should follow his commands *for certain reasons*, then you should *not* think that morality just is whatever God 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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