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    We do not have a duty to believe in God — Carmelics
    Home/Moral Responsibility
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    We do not have a duty to believe in God

    Moral ResponsibilityNatural Theology
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    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Postulating God's existence is a theoretical exercise of reason
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    • 2.Theoretical exercises of reason cannot be morally commanded
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    • 3.Our duty to promote the highest good gives rise only to a need of reason to assume the possibility of the highest good, not a direct duty to believe in God
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
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    • 1.If the highest good is a moral obligation, then believing in the conditions that make it possible is itself morally required.
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    • 2.Kant's own practical postulates function as rationally obligatory commitments, not merely optional hypotheses of speculative reason.
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    • 3.A duty to pursue an end entails a duty to adopt the beliefs without which rational pursuit of that end is impossible.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
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    • 1.William James argues in 'The Will to Believe' that withholding belief on live, forced, momentous questions is itself a practical choice with moral stakes.
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    • 2.If theistic belief shapes moral character and virtuous motivation in ways atheistic belief structurally cannot, then cultivating theistic belief may be morally incumbent on rational agents.
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    Topics

    Moral ResponsibilityNatural Theology

    Connections

    1 topic

    Truth & Knowledge1 linked

    Related

    A duty to pursue an end entails a duty to adopt the beliefs without which ration...If the highest good is a moral obligation, then believing in the conditions that...If theistic belief shapes moral character and virtuous motivation in ways atheis...Kant's own practical postulates function as rationally obligatory commitments, n...
    +4 moreShow less
    Our duty to promote the highest good gives rise only to a need of reason to assu...Postulating God's existence is a theoretical exercise of reasonTheoretical exercises of reason cannot be morally commandedWilliam James argues in 'The Will to Believe' that withholding belief on live, f...

    Similar

    One has a moral duty not to deceive others.80%Our duty to promote the highest good gives rise only to a need of reas...77%Mere belief is not sufficient for acting for a reason.76%These non-believers are not culpable for their unbelief.75%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: kant-hume-morality
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    The relation between God and the highest good is the basis of Kant’s main argument for belief in God. (See Wood 1970.) The argument, most clearly articulated in the Critique of Practical Reason, goes like this (CPrR 5:110–14, 124–46). The moral law issues categorical demands through each agent’s own reason. If the moral law sets forth an end for us to promote, we must promote it. For our promotion of this end to be rational, the end must be one that we can rationally view as possible for us to p
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit