The Semantic Precedence of Religion over Morality in Robert Adams' Divine Command Theory

The divine command theory is one of the most well-known deontological ethics theories that has always numerous interpretations. The interpretations of the Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions of the command of God are according to the attributes that each religion has proved in its sacred texts and theological discussions. They consider the relationship between the moral and the divine as logical and necessary or as metaphysical and moral necessity. Explaining the relationship between the religious and moral command and the precedence of religion over morality requires various arrangements to finally justify a particular type of precedence historically, metaphysically, epistemologically, and conceptually or semantically. The divine command theory of Robert Adams is one of the modified examples of the theory of divine command in the contemporary period, which tries to reconstruct the weaknesses and shortcomings of the basic theories of divine command and justify the semantic precedence of religion over morality by relying on a metaphysical principle rooted in the particular conception of man's relationship with God. This approach has been formed according to the moral obligation and such concepts and has tried to defend the divine command theory by correcting semantic positions. From this point of view, in the obligation arising from wrong, an action is wrong only if it opposes the divine command or the divine will. The legitimacy of these commands also stems from the command of the God of love, which is a special relationship between the religious person and God.

Keywords:

Corrective Theory of Divine Command , Adams , Error , meaning , obligation