Final answer:
In Divine Command Theory, moral values are based solely on God's commands, nullifying the distinction between malum in se and malum prohibitum. There are no acts that are intrinsically good or bad; their moral status is entirely dependent on divine will, allowing for any action to be deemed good if commanded by God. This leads to philosophical challenges regarding the independence of moral judgments from divine commands.
Step-by-step explanation:
Divine Command Theory and Morality
In the Divine Command Theory, moral values are not inherent in the actions themselves but are dictated by the commands of a deity. Thus, in this framework, there is no concept of malum in se (wrong in itself) or malum prohibitum (wrong because it is prohibited); there is only what is commanded by God.
Actions are not good or bad in their own right but derive their moral status from divine edicts. For instance, if God commands an act, it is considered good; if an action is forbidden by God, it is deemed bad, regardless of human perceptions of the act.
The Divine Command Theory posits that what is 'good' is so because God wills it, leading to the implication that any act, regardless of our personal or societal moral intuitions, can be good if so commanded by God. This includes actions that humans might intrinsically consider reprehensible.
Conversely, the divine command could potentially reverse a previous commandment, rendering what was once bad as now good. Divine commands are not limited to scriptural tenets like the Ten Commandments but include continued and new decrees from the deity, challenging the notion that human understanding of morality can be independent of divine prescription.
The problematic nature of this theory arises when considering situations where what God commands goes against our intrinsic moral judgments, raising the question of whether there exists an independent criterion to assess morality apart from the divine will.
This leads to further philosophical debates on the relationship between ethics and divinity, where ethics can either be seen as an expression of the divine or understood separately from any divine authority.