Virtue Depends on Natural Law and Divine Commands
Virtue theory has occupied a place of relative prominence within the Christian intellectual tradition. But there is a problem facing it: how one contemplates the virtues and vices will ultimately depend upon deeper accounts of the good and the right. Accordingly, virtue theory is incomplete, at leas...
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MDPI AG
2024-12-01
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| author | J. Caleb Clanton Kraig Martin |
| author_facet | J. Caleb Clanton Kraig Martin |
| author_sort | J. Caleb Clanton |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Virtue theory has occupied a place of relative prominence within the Christian intellectual tradition. But there is a problem facing it: how one contemplates the virtues and vices will ultimately depend upon deeper accounts of the good and the right. Accordingly, virtue theory is incomplete, at least when taken by itself. Our task in this paper is to show that neither of the standard approaches to explaining the metaphysical foundations of morality within the Christian tradition—natural law theory and divine command theory—are sufficient to fix this incompleteness. We thus propose a combination of natural law theory and divine command theory to remedy the matter. The upshot of our argument, then, is this: what counts as a virtue ultimately depends upon the natural law <i>and</i> divine commands. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d736a031bb334b34bcc30b7414eb5e38 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj-art-d736a031bb334b34bcc30b7414eb5e382025-01-24T13:47:22ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442024-12-011613410.3390/rel16010034Virtue Depends on Natural Law and Divine CommandsJ. Caleb Clanton0Kraig Martin1Department of History, Politics, and Philosophy, Lipscomb University, Nashville, TN 37204, USACollege of Bible & Ministry, Harding University, Searcy, AR 72149, USAVirtue theory has occupied a place of relative prominence within the Christian intellectual tradition. But there is a problem facing it: how one contemplates the virtues and vices will ultimately depend upon deeper accounts of the good and the right. Accordingly, virtue theory is incomplete, at least when taken by itself. Our task in this paper is to show that neither of the standard approaches to explaining the metaphysical foundations of morality within the Christian tradition—natural law theory and divine command theory—are sufficient to fix this incompleteness. We thus propose a combination of natural law theory and divine command theory to remedy the matter. The upshot of our argument, then, is this: what counts as a virtue ultimately depends upon the natural law <i>and</i> divine commands.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/1/34virtuemoral philosophynatural lawdivine command theoryvoluntarismvice |
| spellingShingle | J. Caleb Clanton Kraig Martin Virtue Depends on Natural Law and Divine Commands Religions virtue moral philosophy natural law divine command theory voluntarism vice |
| title | Virtue Depends on Natural Law and Divine Commands |
| title_full | Virtue Depends on Natural Law and Divine Commands |
| title_fullStr | Virtue Depends on Natural Law and Divine Commands |
| title_full_unstemmed | Virtue Depends on Natural Law and Divine Commands |
| title_short | Virtue Depends on Natural Law and Divine Commands |
| title_sort | virtue depends on natural law and divine commands |
| topic | virtue moral philosophy natural law divine command theory voluntarism vice |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/1/34 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jcalebclanton virtuedependsonnaturallawanddivinecommands AT kraigmartin virtuedependsonnaturallawanddivinecommands |