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God Had to Create the World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

Leon Pearl
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York 11550-1090

Extract

In a recent paper T. D. J. Chappell advances the thesis that orthodox Christianity is incompatible with consequentialism.1 His thesis is grounded on a number of premises; I shall, however, confine my criticism to only one of them, i.e. a consequentialist God could not possibly have created a world. Here is his argument:

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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References

1 Chappell, T. D. J., ‘Why God isn't a Consequentialist,’ Religious Studies, 29, 239–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2 Ibid. p. 241.

3 Mill, John Stuart, Utilitarianism, George, Sher, ed. (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1979), p. 21.Google Scholar

4 Paley, William, The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy (1785).Google Scholar