Divine Command Theory

Business leaders, along with society in general, rely on ethical frameworks to guide daily decisionmaking processes and logically confirm gut feelings. Prominent ethical frameworks such as deontology, utilitarianism, and virtue ethics are popular tools employed in this process. However, various alternative ethical frameworks are also commonly used to determine the morality of contemplated actions. The Divine Command Theory (DCT) is such an alternative ethical framework based on a belief in God and an acceptance that the morality of actions stems directly from God's commands. According to the DCT, an action is morally acceptable if God commanded such action or if a divine command motivates someone to take a morally appropriate action. As commonly formulated, the DCT can be divided into three ethical subframeworks: (1) Religious ...