Ethics and God: the Divine Command Theory and the Euthyphro Dilemma

Some people claim that ethics depends on God: unless there’s a God who makes actions right and wrong, no actions would be objectively right or wrong, good or bad. Such people often accept the Divine Command Theory of ethics (hereafter, DCT). According to DCT, wrong actions are wrong because God forbids them and right actions are right because God commands them. This essay introduces this ethical theory and the most important responses to it, which date back to Socrates’ discussion in ancient Greece with a man named Euthyphro.