Moral Obligations in a Friendship

Should our moral values depend on religion? This question of whether morality is dependent or independent of religion is a major topic in philosophy of religion. Louis P. Pojman illustrated this point in a Socratic passage from the Euthyphro, “Does God love goodness because it is good, or is it good because God loves it?” (Pojman 154). The individuals, who claim that moral values are created, dependent, and controlled by God, believe in the Divine Command Theory. On the other hand, atheistic existentialists, such as Jean-Paul Sartre, believe that our moral values are independent of God, which leaves morality a value that humans create.

In order to understand Jean-Paul Sartre’s view of morality and religion, we must describe his philosophical view. This view is known as atheistic existentialism, and according to Sartre this “states that if God does not exist, there is at least one being in whom existence precedes essence, a being who exists before he can be defined by any concept, and that this being is man, or, . . . human reality” (Peterson 622). In other words, he believed that in a godless world values still exist, however, these values are created only after human beings come into existence. For example, when humans are born, they begin to create concepts with the human mind, and consequently, the rational mind begins to create moral values in the world. According to Sartre, moral values come after human experiences, which is “existence precedes essence” (Peterson 622).

The notion of existence preceding essence implicates that in a world without god, the responsibility falls into our hands. That is, the responsibility to be the judges of all our moral values. Consequently, according to Sartre, the existentialist “thi...

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Does philosophy answer the question regarding morality and ethics objectively? No, since human knowledge is limited. However, as the phenomenologist may say, the answer may not be as valuable as the experience itself.

Works Cited

Peterson, Michael L.. Philosophy of Religion: Selected Readings. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.

Pojman, Louis P.. Philosophy of Religion. Long Grove Ill.: Waveland Press, 2009. Print.

Pojman, Louis P., and Lewis Vaughn. “Virtue Ethics.” The Moral Life: An Introductory Reader in Ethics and Literature. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. 403. Print.

“Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.” Divine Command Theory. N.p., n.d. Web 31 May 2014. .

“Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.” Phenomenology. N.p., n.d. Web 31 May 2014. .