Divine Command Theory: Morality Found in Divine Authority & Non-Utilitarian Judgments - Essay Sample

Introduction

Divine Command Theory (DCT) is the view that morality is based on the commands given to human beings by God. Thus, moral obligation is inclusive of obedience to God's commandments. DCT includes claims the claim that morality is based on the commands of God and that morally right action is the one ordered by God. Therefore, this paper reviews the article, 'Lean Not on Your Own Understanding": Belief That Morality Is Founded on Divine Authority and Non-Utilitarian Moral Judgments' by Piazza and Landy (2013) that proposes that morality is based on the divine commands.

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Summary

The article, "Lean Not on Your Own Understanding": Belief That Morality Is Founded on Divine Authority and Non-Utilitarian Moral Judgments" by Piazza and Landy (2013) proposes that morality is entrenched in the divine commands. The paper examines the role of Divine Command Theory (DCT) endorsement to explain the negative link existing between religiosity and pragmatic thinking. The authors acknowledge that no instrument can assess belief in DCT. The article has two studies the first study devises a tool that would determine confidence in DCT. The second objective of the study is to show how the designed instrument mediates the relationship between religiosity and practical thinking. This study intends to establish DCT as an ingredient or catalyst underlying the observed correlations in past researches.

Further, study 1 aimed at testing the DCT endorsement and whether or not it would explain the relationship between religious beliefs and social conversations. Some of the conservative values in society could take a firm stance towards actions such as divorce, abortion, and premarital sex. Such beliefs may be sustained based on an individual's perception of divine commands supporting a particular way of life and forbidding some acts (Plaisted, 2017). With this in mind, it could be possible that DCT is a factor that sustains the link between religious beliefs and social conservatism.

Study 2 of the research investigates DCT as a mediator of the role that religious beliefs play in making moral judgments. The authors used a different sample of American participants. The study covered an array of dilemmas that range from telling the truth to obedience to the people in authority. The study also addressed some alternative explanations to the results that include the variances in moral beliefs and foundations and beliefs on the function of ethical regulations.

The findings of the studies show that endorsement of divine origins or morally have a role to play in mediating the relationship between religiosity and an individual's moral foundations that include loyalty, authority, and sanctity. The findings affirm the importance of meta-ethical beliefs for comprehending the variances in moral judgment and perceptions. Therefore, the research problem focused on in the article by Piazza and Landy (2013) is the relationship between religiosity and utilitarian thinking by analyzing the influence of Divine Command Theory (DCT).

Empirical Strategy and Data

In a bid to answer the research question, the authors recruited 290 participants, 136 males, and 154 females. The authors designed twenty statements on the role of God in establishing moral truths. The level of acceptance with the account was assessed on a scale of 1(strongly disagree) to 9(strongly agree). The responses gathered were submitted to scrutiny and tests to determine their validity.

Religiosity, on the other hand, was assessed using different metrics. The sample selected was from the American background. Most Americans are Christians. The Short Christian Orthodoxy scale that contains items that could help in assessing the endorsement of Christian doctrine and beliefs was used in the study. Also, the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire (SRFQ), which includes items to assess the importance of sacred practices and faith in a person's life,s was used. A 12-item Attitude towards Religion (ATR) scale that analyzes the positive stances towards religious conviction and its role in the society was also used. Religiosity actions were also analyzes based on agreements on 1-9scales. A direct test of religiosity was measured where participants rated on a 1-9scale how religious they were with 1-not religious and 2-extremely religious.

Assessments for utilitarian thinking were done using a Consequentialist Thinking Style scale (CTS). Participants answered 13 questions that indicated whether an act was not morally acceptable, admissible if it produces good things and not evil, or an action was based on an individual's obligation. The 13 acts included in the scale included lying, assisted suicide, killing, torture, incest, stealing, disloyalty, deception, gossip, abortion, breaking promises, breaking the law, and treachery. Henningham's Scale of Social Conservatism was used to measure social values. The scale was revised to fit the American participants used in the study.

Actively open-minded thinking was measured using seven items from the Actively Open-minded Thinking Scale (AOT), where participants rate their agreement levels on a scale of 1-9. The scale measures the tendency of being open towards revising and updating a person's beliefs with the existing contradictory pieces of evidence in the world today. Importantly, participants first answered CTS and social conservatism items followed by religiosity measures and AOT.

The dependent variables in the research are religiosity, utilitarian thinking, social conservatism, and actively open-minded thinking that are dependent on one's moral foundation and Divine Command Theory (DCT). The independent variables, on the other hand, are Divine Command Theory and moral foundations. The authors propose a model that focuses on morality as emanating from divine authority. The proposed model, thus, is morality is founded on Divine Authority (MFDA), which is measured using the MFDA scale. The unchanged element or rather that control variable in the article is deontological thinking. The paper posits that deontological orientation displayed by religious persons does not result from the differences emphasized by the domains of morality of an individual. The deontological thinking of the participants remains unchanged. However, it could affect the correlation between the dependent and independent variables.

The estimated effect is that religious beliefs determine people's morals, actions, and thinking. If the impact if proven right, this will mean that people's actions are not determined mainly by their religion and its beliefs, implying that if religion did not exist, people's actions would be wayward. The unit of analysis is what influences people's activities within society and whether religion and divine commands are one of the influencing factors. The approach used to solve the research problem seems articulate since the authors conduct a study that analyzes the responses provided by the participants to determine what influences their way of life. The only weakness in this approach would be identifying the accuracy of the answers given. Participants could interfere with the responses, and the data analysis technique may fail to detect the interferences. Thus, this eventually affects the overall credibility of the study.

Replicated Results

Study 1 Results

From the article, the items analyzed on the MFDA scale shown in table 1 below had high internal reliability. The authors conducted a principal constituent analysis of the twenty issues in the MFDA scale with parallel analysis as the method of extraction. From the analysis, the first eigenvalue exceeded those derived by chance through the parallel analysis leading to the retaining of one factor, which comprised of twenty items as depicted in table 1 below. All the twenty items loaded significantly well above the conventional.

Table 1 MFDA Scale (Piazza & Landy, 2013)

Further, table 2 below shows the zero-order correlations existing between the MFDA scale, religiosity, AOT, and outcome variables. From the table, it is clear that believing that morality depends on God's commands was found to relate with metrics of religiosity. Thus, this suggests good convergent authenticity. The results confirm the prediction that MFDA had a negative correlation with utilitarian thinking and positively connected to social conversations.

Table 2 Correlation Matrix (Piazza & Landy, 2013)

Self-reported religiosity was measured using a single item, as explained in the study process. The study showed that self-reported religiosity correlated negatively with utilitarian thinking for 13 out of 14 moral offenses. Torture was one of the items that were not related to religion. Mainly, this means that one's faith does not determine torturous activities in society. Importantly, the primary purpose of the study by Piazza and Landy (2013) was to identify the endorsement of divine command theory for the link between religiosity and non-utilitarian morality. The findings show that support of DCT accounts for the relationship between religiosity and non-utilitarian thinking. MFDA emerged as a mediator of the relationship between Christian Orthodoxy and utilitarian style of thinking. Mainly, this implies that morality is based and dependent on the divine commands provided to Christian by God.

Similarly, the results also showed that DCT was a predictor of utilitarian thinking and was independent of different personality dimensions that include how actively open-minded, conscious, and agreeable a person is (Plaisted, 2017). Primarily, this implies that open-mindedness, conscientious, and the rate at which a person can be deemed agreeable could affect utilitarian thinking regardless of the effects of DCT. However, if all the factors mentioned above remain constant, DCT transforms an individual's utilitarian style of thinking. Importantly, study 1 results confirmed the hypothesis made by the authors in the article.

The study had some weaknesses. First, the study failed to rule out any alternative explanation of the findings. For instance, it did not inform that the endorsement of DCT could result from a particular concern. It is worth noting that respect for authorities is often emphasized in societies and moulded by evolutionary history. With this in mind, DCT could be a part of a general concern for respecting bodies but not limited to the authority of God. Therefore, the author's sought to make this study clearer by conducting a second study, study 2.

Study 2 Results

As already explained, study 2 utilized different American participants from those used in study 1. The participants answered questionnaires on moral dilemmas and demographic questions such as self-reported religiosity, political orientation, education levels, and socioeconomic status. The findings of study 2 are replicated in Table 3. Table 3 below shows the relationship between self-reported religiosity, political orientation, and utilitarian responding to different ethical dilemmas. From the table, it is articulate that religiosity correlates with utilitarian responding in ten out of the 11 dilemmas. It is worth noting that the findings of study 1 are consistent with that of study 2. There was an overall adverse relationship between religiosity and utilitarianism scores. Also, the authors indicated that they witnessed a negative correlation between political orientation and utilitarianism. The negative relationship is seen in nine out of eleven dilemmas. Similarly, table 3 shows that MFDA negatively correlated with utilitarian responses for all the 11 questions on moral dilemmas.

Table 3 Pearson Correlations (Piazza & Landy, 2013)

Further, table 4 shows the zero-order correlations. The findings show that the unders...