YOU NEVER HAVE ONE MORAL DUTY, IT IS PART OF A SERIES, A COMPLICATED SERIES

The philosopher David Hume noticed that if you say argue that murder is wrong and that it is a duty not to murder you are assuming other duties which this one reflects and depends on. So it becomes-

Murder is wrong

Why?

 

Because we have a duty to protect life.

 

Why?

 

Because people need to be given the chance to be happy.

 

But happiness is not morality. Morality is not an end in itself if happiness is the goal.

 

So to justify morality that way only leads to it contradicting itself.

 

Interestingly, morality can be a bitter pill and always threatens to be and yet people say morality is God and worship it joyfully.  The only way that can be explained is if they think they are so superior and moral that they have nothing to worry about.

 

Is good good because it says so or because God says so?

 

There is a dilemma about whether acts are good or good just because a God says so.  Those who face this dilemma sometimes say the starting point is to define what you mean by good. But that refuses to admit that the dilemma itself is about the definition! However, one side says good is whatever God says it is and the other side says good is good no matter what God needs or wants or commands or thinks. Notice that the first side is defining good and the other is not defining good yet.

 

The question, "Is good good even if God disagrees that it is good?" can be asked without a definition of good. You can ask if
 

If God decrees what is good and that makes it good then it follows that God needs it to be good which means it is good to have a need fulfilled. Good is about needs.  God has a need which means there is something independent of God. If God needs good then good is independent of God.

 

Morality is a mask for etiquette.  Morality and what you have to do to fit in with other people may have overlaps but they are not the same thing.  It is certainly no mistake to hold that morality is only a social set up though people pretend it is more than that.  That is why moral people can be very vicious to those who they class as being outside the fold.