This is either the best or worst moral theory anyone can hold. Maybe both. Also, I've dared myself to complete this entry (accurately, I might add) before my laptop battery dies, which is currently at 80%.
Divine command theory rests on the premise of following the laws of God (or whatever omnipotent/ ethereal/ divine being you care to think of) purely on account of the knowledge that they are that being. Essentially it is following your boss because of they are your boss, regardless of what they tell you to do. This runs into certain paradoxes such as being told to increase production while laying people off, or being told not to murder while committing mass genocide.
Divine command theory's greatest strength is its simplicity. "Do what God tells you to do," or put another way, "good things are what God decides is good." No ifs, ands, or buts. (After that sentence, I don't care about apostrophes anymore. They can all die.) Let this stranger into my house? Sure, God! Procreate with my spouse? You Go(d)t it! Burn the heathen at the stake? Golly Je(sus)willakers! Absotootly! Maybe the sarcasm was laid on a little too strongly here... Anyways, so long as there is a standard for interpreting whatever God desires, DCT is wicked awesome. The Catholic Church, Orthodox Judaism, whatever Islam has going on, they all have some binding statements that are understood to be doctrine, i.e. exact instructions from God about living.
This is all well and good for those with boundless, unwavering faith in whatever. However, there was a witty old man named Euthyphro who posed a difficult question to these people a few thousand years ago; Is A) x good because the gods (he was Greek) command it, or B) do the gods command it because x is good?
If you choose A then the gods arbitrarily decide what is good and what is bad. In an instant the gods could command cutting open orphans to harvest their organs a good thing, or they could command the use of crystal meth to be a bad thing. It is the same logic you use to decide where you will eat lunch in a large city, except with morals and they're all immortal.
If you choose B, it means there is an objective reason for x being good outside of the commands of the gods. This limits the gods to being like Navi from Ocarina of Time, always pointing out things that are clearly evident to anyone with more than 3 total cells in their body. It takes the "divine command" out of "divine command theory," and not too many people are keen on having faith in just the word "theory," not even logical positivists.
Long story short, go with utilitarianism, pragmatism, nihilism, Kantian universalism, or pretty much anything other than DCT if you enjoy your social life.
12% battery remaining. w00t!
Steve
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