Alexander Pruss's Blog

Suppose that someone notes that the digits of π starting at some position n start looking like they have an odd pattern, and it occurs to ...

Suppose that morality is grounded in God’s commands. What are God’s commands? The most obvious idea would be that God’s commands are speech...

I’ve always found punishment and (to a lesser extent) reward puzzling. Why is it that when someone does something wrong is there moral reaso...

One thinks of virtue ethics as a unified family of ethical systems. But it is interesting to note just how different virtue ethical systems ...

Once upon a time, there was an isolated village in the mountains. It had a large electronic billboard. Every so often, unsigned demands appe...

Some divine “command” theories do not ground obligations in commands as such, but in divine mental states, such as his willings, intentions ...

In my previous post , I argued against divine desire versions of divine command theory. Reflecting on that post, I saw that there is a simpl...

On the divine desire version of divine command theory, the right thing to do is what God wants us to do. But what if God’s desires conflict...

Suppose that the captain impersonates an admiral and yells: “Turn hard to starboard!” The sailors ought to turn hard to starboard and the ca...

There is a lot to be said for the Mill-Ramsey-Lewis (MRL) account of laws as the axioms of a system that optimizes a balance of informativen...

In physical laws, there are a number of numerical parameters. Some of these parameters are famously part of the fine-tuning problem, but all...

I've never found the moral argument for morality—except in its epistemic variety—particularly compelling. But now I find myself pull...

Here is an example of a civic duty that isn't required by law: Be reasonably well informed as to what the law commands in your...

The following is even rougher than is usual for posts.  It's notes to self mainly. Consider this anti-self-referentiality (ASR) thesis...

1. First Things online has a piece by Chris Tollefsen and me on lying . 2. I posted an  argument against some  divine command theories on ...

The following simple and valid argument came out of discussions with Mark Murphy (who has a forthcoming book that contains related arguments...

Divine command metaethics (DCM) says that the obligatory is defined as what God commands. (Variants on which the obligatory is ...