Does God Care Why I Do What I Do?: The Question of Intention in Islam
Persistent URL
Author(s)
Hamed, Alinah
Date Issued
May 5, 2023
Abstract
My driving question is, “Does God care why I do what I do?’ and I explore it from an Islamic perspective. To begin the discussion, I introduce the Euthyphro dilemma where Euthyphro wonders whether piety is equivalent to being god-loved. His dilemma prompts us to consider the foundations of morality. There are two opposing theories: moral truths are not up to God and Divine Command Theory (DCT). The former states that God didn’t create morality, which is concerning in Islam. Thus, many assume that only DCT is consistent with Islam. However, as we see in this work, this isn’t the case. This leads us to wonder about human reason’s role in determining what is right. If DCT is accurate, then morality is arbitrary prior to revelation. To further disprove this theory and answer my driving question, we move on to a discussion of normative ethics. Here, we analyze three possible relationships between Islam and morality. Lastly, we discuss intention and implicit biases. Philosophers, like Anscombe, define and theorize intention differently than Islam does, and this matters for whether a person is morally responsible for their implicit biases. However, I offer a compromise by distinguishing between the existence of implicit and explicit intentions.
Major
Philosophy
Honors
Philosophy, 2023
First Reader(s)
Kurtsal, Irem
Other Reader(s)
Mitchell, Matthew
Department
Philosophy and Religious Studies
Type of Publication
Senior Project Paper
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Hamed - Does God Care Why I Do What I Do__ The Question of Intention in Islam.pdf
Size
8.34 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
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