The Collapse of the Moral Argument for God

Today, we cast some doubt on the idea that morality is objective only if God exists. We also define some crucial terms, refute a few apologetic canards, and discuss how apologists have misrepresented the field of metaethics and failed the audiences that rely on them. We also discuss the Euthyphro dilemma, Hume’s Law, and explore a back-and-forth between William Lane Craig and Michael Huemer on the question, “Why obey God?” Finally, before summarizing the main problems for the moral argument, we cover two other moral arguments that are not abysmal failures. Linktree https://linktr.ee/emersongreen Common Mistakes about the Moral Argument | Majesty of Reason https://youtu.be/HagWjUtIzzY?si=prlYGNDzj3uaL6iy Majesty of Reason – Moral Arguments for God: An Analysis https://youtu.be/cFEjSzfEQrU?si=RhKSMu8ihQjFPj1- Michael Huemer – Groundless Morals (this chapter is within the volume of Erik Wielenberg vs. William Lane Craig on the moral argument) https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003055259-14/groundless-morals-michael-huemer Metaethics w/ Michael Huemer | Emerson Green https://youtu.be/32HHaQcqLPs?si=h_nlivpLA6Kp0cqY Is God Necessary for Morality? | William Lane Craig & Shelly Kagan https://youtu.be/Rm2wShHJ2iA?si=5qy7VnT2qVV4Pwmj Moral Objectivity Without God | Russ Shafer-Landau https://youtu.be/50CQwa15R7A?si=kfK1sbx0kSG8BvUV /Timestamps/ 00:00 Introduction 01:36 The Big Picture 08:12 Metaethics (Defining Terms) 9:26 Descriptive vs. Evaluative (Defining Terms) 11:21 Objective Morality (Defining Terms) 14:54 Subjective Morality (Defining Terms) 20:05 The Metaethical Landscape (Defining Terms) 22:18 Apologist (Defining Terms) 23:33 Apologetics vs. Metaethics 27:49 “Humans are just animals” (Moral agents & patients) 33:40 The Moral Law Giver 40:19 Euthyphro & Intrinsic Value 52:29 Hume’s Law (Is-Ought Gap) 57:35 Why Obey God? 1:02:05 Groundless Morals 1:09:44 Two Broad Classes of Moral Realism 1:12:31 God Cannot Provide the Basis for Objective Morality (Craig vs. Huemer) 1:37:41 Good Moral Arguments 1:47:01 What’s wrong with the moral argument? 1:58:16 Why Craig still uses the argument