XXVI.

"You might think, for example, that the Bible tells us not to commit suicide. And since the Bible is God's word, we must do whatever the Bible tells us. That's a kind of argument that I'm perfectly prepared to engage in. Although, of course, there's a lot of assumptions behind that argument that we would need to really examine. Is there a God? — Well, obviously we needed that weighing in for the God's will argument. — Has God expressed his will in a book? If so, what book is it? Do we have moral reason to obey God? Also relevant for the God's will argument. And of course, if we do think we have an obligation to obey this instruction manual, are we really prepared to obey this instruction manual?

Even if there's a sentence in this instruction manual that says don't commit suicide, a lot of other things the instruction manual also says that most of us are not inclined to do. The instruction manual says not to eat pork. Well, how many of you are not willing to eat pork? The instruction manual tells you not to mix various kinds of material together in a single item of clothing. How many of you think that that's unacceptable? The instruction manual tells you that if a teenager is rude to their parents, they should be stoned to death. How many of you think that that's a moral requirement? If you're going to pick and choose which bits of the instruction manual you actually think are morally relevant, then you can't come to me and say, "Oh, suicide is wrong because the instruction manual says so." You're not really using the instruction manual to give you moral guidance. You're starting with your moral beliefs and then picking and choosing which bits of the instruction manual you want to accept."

© Shelly Kagan
Yale Lectures on Philosophy of Death, 2007