Divine Will and Autonomy of Ethics

This essay deals with the divine command theory of ethics. After a short explanation about the status of this theory among different ethical theories, a short history of the subject is given. It is also illustrated how the writers of the philosophy of religion and ethics have paid special attention to this issue. The other parts of the article deal with the different versions of this theory and explain how its proponents, have given new and more sophisticated versions of that theory in order to respond to the objections. Yet there remains an essential objection. This objection is based on the Autonomy of ethics. The autonomy of ethics has been discussed with greater detail in regard to Copernican revolution of Kant in ethics. In addition, a short comparison has been made between Kant's theory and the theory of Muslim scholars on the objective and rational character of moral values (Husn va ghobh aqli dhati). This comparison shows how the theory of Muslim scholars can be corresponded to Kant's views.