Metaethics and Divine Complexity

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

Publication Information

42 Faith & Phil. 538 (2026).

Abstract

Existing theistic metaethical theories either ground moral rightness and wrongness in God’s will, or they use the controversial doctrine of divine simplicity to ground them in God’s nature. This paper claims that there is a still-unexplored third option: grounding rightness and wrongness in God’s nature without relying on simplicity. I develop two novel, simplicity-free theories by modifying two existing simplicity-based theories. I argue that each obtains the desideratum achieved by its parent theory, and that eschewing simplicity does not require incurring significant theoretical costs. I also propose a third theory, though I am somewhat less sanguine about its ultimate success.

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