Ethical supernaturalism (SN) says that moral judgments describe God's will. To call something "good" means that God desires it. We are to pick out our moral principles by following God's will.Ethics based on God's willOur reading uses the "Ima Supernaturalist" character to explain and defend supernaturalism. Then it offers several criticisms of the view. It ends by showing how ethics and religion might relate closely even if supernaturalism is false.
Our reading handout on Supernaturalism is taken from Chapter 3 of Harry Gensler's Ethics: A Contemporary Introduction (London and New York, Routledge: 1998). These computerized exercise materials are copyrighted (c) 2002 by Harry J. Gensler; but they may be distributed freely.
Supernaturalism holds that moral judgments describe God's will: "X is good" means "God desires X." God's will creates the moral order. Ethics is based on religion.Objections to supernaturalismSN is defended as a Biblical teaching, as a consequence of belief in God (who is the source of all basic laws), and as the only plausible source of objectively binding duties. We can best know God's will through combining four sources: the Bible, the church, prayer, and reason.
SN, despite being initially plausible (at least to religious people), has some deep problems. SN seems to make it impossible for atheists to make positive moral judgments -- an implausible result. And Socrates's question raises further problems: "Is a good thing good because God desires it? Or does God desire it because it is good?"Arguments for supernaturalism
The arguments for SN fail if we examine them carefully. The Bible doesn't teach SN; rather, it teaches that we ought to obey God -- which might be accepted and defended on a non-SN basis. SN isn't a consequence of belief in God; basic moral principles might be like the logical truth "x=x," which is true of its very nature and not true because God decided to make it true. Finally, there are ways of defending the objectivity of ethics that don't base ethics on God's will.Some are led to SN because of their conviction that ethics connects closely to religion. But it's possible to connect the two closely, even without SN.