Nielsen "God
and the Good"
Nielsen's task is to evaluate the claim,
"that the only genuine basis for
morality is in religion" (462). It is commonly held that the only possible
objective basis for our moral
principles, the only satisfactory answer to life's big questions, without God.
If the claim is to have any merit, we must be
able to assent to one or more of the questions listed in the middle of (463):
Is God's willing something to be good fundamental/only/only adequate criterion
for something being good. Nielsen argues that we are not justified in assenting
to any of them.
Nielsen's strategy is to analyze the semantic
status of the statement "God is good." Before he proceeds with the
analysis, he needs to clarify the stakes. First, what is a fundamental
criterion? (463). Second, justification is not acquisition. It is a question of
why, not how. Third, not every answer to the "why?" question is
appropriate. Reasons are better than authority, because reasons exhibit
deliberation.
What possible meanings could the statement
"God is good." have? It could be a synthetic statement, one that
links two independent concepts. As such, however, we have to admit that there
is nothing contradictory about asserting the opposite claim. Such an assertion may
be factually false, but it is not logically impossible. Thus, we cannot merely
assert that "God is good."; we have to establish it.
Establishing the truth of any synthetic
statement requires a prior understanding of the terms being linked. In other
words, to be able to assent to the (synthetic) claim "God is good" we
have to already know the meaning of "good." But if that is true, then
God can't be the fundamental, only, or only adequate criterion for something
being good.
P: "God is
good" is synthetic.
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C: It is not
necessarily true that God is good.
P: It is not
necessarily true that God is good.
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C: We cannot merely
assert that "God is good," we have to establish it.
P: We have to
establish the truth of the synthetic statement "God is good."
P: Establishing the
truth of a synthetic statement requires an independent criterion of assessment.
P: Establishing the
truth of the synthetic statement "God is good" requires an
independent criterion of assessment of goodness.
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C: God cannot be the
fundamental, only, or only adequate criterion for goodness.
It could be an analytic statement. Two things
can be related analytically because they are identical or because they are
connected by definition. The statement could not be analytic in the first way.
Both "God" and "goodness" have significance that is not
present in the other. The two things must be connected by definition.
Establishing the truth of a statement analytic by definition requires an independent
criterion of assessment. Therefore, God cannot be the fundamental, only, or
only adequate criterion for goodness.
P: "God is
good" is analytically true.
P: A statement can be
analytically true through identity or definition.
P: "God is
good" is not analytically true through identity.
P: Establishing the
truth of a statement analytic by definition requires an independent criterion
of assessment.
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C: God cannot be the
fundamental, only, or only adequate criterion for goodness.