Description

This video explores what Philosopher Rebecca Goldstein believes is one of the strongest arguments for God’s existence.  She spend the first few minutes outlining the force of the argument and what atheists and other non-theists should take it seriously.  The general form of the argument goes: 1) if there’s morality then God exists (i.e. God is necessary for morality), and 2) there is morality, so therefore 3) God exists.  Goldstein then dismantles the argument in two ways.  First, Plato’s Euthyphro Dilemma argues that God can’t be the foundation for ethics.  Second, there are a number of non-theistic theories that can account for morality.

Discussion Questions

• What is the argument from morality?  Should non-theists take it seriously?
• What is the Euthyphro Dilemma?  Do you think God can be the foundation or source of ethics?
• Is God the only theory that can explain the existence of an objective morality?  If not, what are some examples?
• What do you think of these arguments altogether?

Keywords: god, theism, philosophy, ethics, morality, apologetic, atheism, meta-ethics