Let’s begin by noting the general idea of divine-command theory and its two versions or interpretations; and by cooking up another theory—one having nothing to do with God or ethics—whose structural similarity to divine-command theory might prove illuminating.
| theory | divine-command theory | Woods-hit theory |
| general idea | What is right is what God commands. | The best place to hit the ball is wherever Tiger Woods would hit it. |
| first interpretation | What is right is right because God commands it. | The best place to hit the ball is wherever Tiger Woods would hit it because that’s where Tiger Woods would hit it. |
| second interpretation | God commands what is right because it is right. | Tiger Woods would hit the ball to the best place because that’s the best place to hit it. |
Now let’s explore certain features of the Woods-hit theory that, it will turn out, will be similar to the important features of divine-command theory. They’re all in this table.
| interpretation | first interpretation | second interpretation |
| what it says | The best place to hit the ball is wherever Tiger Woods would hit it because that’s where Tiger Woods would hit it. | Tiger Woods would hit the ball to the best place because that’s the best place to hit it. |
| role of Tiger Woods | definitive of standards of excellence: All it means for some place to be the best place for the ball to be hit is for it to be the place where Tiger would hit it. | consistently living up to standards of excellence: Where Tiger would hit the ball is extremely reliable guidance as to the best place to hit it. |
| notable implication(s) | 1. If Tiger would hit the
ball into the rough, thinking that that would be a shortcut, or if he would
hit it into the water, thinking that that would surprise his opponent, then
that is the best place to hit it.
[This is an implication of this interpretation of the theory because this interpretation says that whatever Tiger would do is the best thing to do because it’s what he would do. In other words, whatever Tiger would do is the best thing to do—no questions asked.] 2. To say, after a particular shot, that Tiger has hit the ball to the best place is not a compliment. [This is an implication of this interpretation of the theory because this interpretation implies that wherever Tiger hits the ball is (automatically) the best place to hit the ball. So, regardless of where Tiger chooses to hit the ball, it will be true, afterwards, that he hit the ball to the best place. And anything that will turn out to be true regardless of what someone does can hardly be a compliment, or a statement of praise. |
There are standards of excellence independent of Tiger’s play that can be used to judge Tiger’s play. Tiger’s play may reliably live up to those standards of excellence, but if it did not, those standards would not change; we would judge his play to be deficient. And since they exist independent of him, then even if Tiger did not exist at all, we would still have standards of excellence for golfing. |
A similar table can be constructed to highlight the important features of the two interpretations of divine-command theory. Here’s its framework, with its contents listed below. Fill in each box of the table with the number(s) of what belongs there:
| interpretation | first interpretation | second interpretation |
| what it says | ||
| role of God | ||
| notable implication(s) |
Now here are the sentences that need to be put into the table. Note that there are two of these that have to be put into the same box of the table. Each of the others has its own box.