MORAL OBJECTIVISM IN WORLD RELIGIONS: A COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS

Authors

  • Luiz Rocha University of São Paulo, Brazil.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24204/ejpr.2024.4418

Keywords:

Moral Objectivism (MO), World Religions (ER), Philosophical Analysis (PA)

Abstract

According to studies on ordinary people's moral judgements, many believe in objective morality and values. This evidence that ordinary people adhere to moral absolutism is bolstered by research that focuses on the relationship between religion and traditional moral objectivity, correlating faith in God to moral objectivism. Existing research on folk moral objectivism among theists raises the question of whether believing in the existence of God leads to belief in objective moral standards. An even more challenging question is whether belief in God is justified based on belief in objective moral standards. In this paper, I will look at existing studies on religion and folk moral objectivism, as well as Robert Adams' divine command theory and Alvin Planting’s reformed epistemology, to show that moral objectivism can provide grounds for theists to believe in God. The authors discovered a significant difference in the moral objectivism group's perceptions of a punishing God. Participants who adhered to Abrahamic religions experienced a more significant effect. To summarize, being primed to think of objective morality causes people to perceive God as more punishing. According to the research, theists' belief in a supernatural being whose commands distinguish between right and wrong motivates objective moral judgements. This makes sense because Abrahamic religions have an objective perspective of morality.

Published

2024-08-12

How to Cite

Luiz Rocha. 2024. “MORAL OBJECTIVISM IN WORLD RELIGIONS: A COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS”. European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 16 (1):318-33. https://doi.org/10.24204/ejpr.2024.4418.

Issue

Section

Research Articles