But do transcendental moral facts not fit better in a theistic universe than they do in an atheistic one? I do not understand why anyone should think
so. Admittedly, transcendental moral facts in an atheistic universe admit of no further explanation, and must be accepted as brute facts. But how does
belief in a god help? Easily, says the believer: either gods create transcendental moral facts by divine fiat, or else they emanate them
uncontrollably in the same way fire emanates heat. Presumably, everything has now been rendered perfectly comprehensible. But has it, really?
Take the hypothesis that theism explains transcendental moral facts by positing a god who can create them by divine fiat. Let us ask by virtue of what
it is that any god could create transcendental moral facts. If the believer responds that it is by virtue of being a god, the believer has explained
nothing -- it would be just as well for me to claim that I can create transcendental moral facts, and when asked how this can be so, explain that I am
able to do so by virtue of being me. All the believer can do is claim that gods can create transcendental moral facts by virtue of having a special
and mysterious power that allows them to do so. But look what has happened: now instead of having one mystery (mysterious transcendental moral facts),
we have three mysteries (mysterious transcendental moral facts, a mysterious god, and a mysterious power to create transcendental moral facts). We
have not even solved the original mystery, since one can hardly explain something by appealing to the inexplicable and incomprehensible.
The same considerations apply to the even more bizarre hypothesis that gods are just able to somehow "emanate" transcendental moral facts. No one
understands what it would mean for a god to emanate transcendental moral facts any more than they understand what it would mean for a rock to emanate
the number 5. Loose analogies to fires emanating heat do not help in the former case any more than in the latter case. Again, the believer ends up
with three mysteries (mysterious transcendental moral facts, a mysterious god, and the mysterious process of "emanating" transcendental moral facts)
against that atheist's one, with no progress made towards solving the original mystery. |