Humanities desk
< September 2	<< Aug \| September \| Oct >>	September 4 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Humanities Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

September 3

the good as heretical constraint

There is a view that principles of ethics can be derived without divine revelation, because the nature of good and evil is largely self-evident. And there is a view that that idea is heretical, because it supposes that God's ability to define the good is constrained. These summaries are naturally compressed, but I think not too compressed to ask the question: Is there a name for either of these doctrines? --Tamfang (talk) 02:51, 3 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Virtue ethics versus Divine command theory? 2601:648:8202:350:0:0:0:2B99 (talk) 03:15, 3 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Tamfang -- if you're referring to an idea that good and evil are two equal principles, and that God is no more powerful than Satan (or whatever you call the master of evil), then that's similar to ancient dualistic religions. If you're referring to an idea that pure scientific knowledge and experiment could ever by itself determine what is morally good and bad, then that's the Is-ought problem... AnonMoos (talk) 05:53, 3 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I don't see where you found Manichaean dualism in the question, but I am no longer surprised at being misunderstood. --Tamfang (talk) 01:05, 7 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

You were referring to restrictions on the power of God, and the main ideas that I know of about that are "Could God create a rock so heavy that he couldn't lift it?" type late-night dorm-room bullshitting, and ancient Persian influenced dualistic religions... AnonMoos (talk) 07:02, 7 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Euthyphro dilemma seems to be the name of the debate. That article says that the first point of view "goes by a variety of names, including intellectualism, rationalism, realism, naturalism, and objectivism", to which I might add moral realism and humanism. The "second horn of the dilemma" is probably best described as divine command theory, as the IP-monikered editor above mentioned. (Two of the links in that list are actually easter eggs, in the article, so they really go to natural law and moral universalism.) Card Zero (talk) 12:35, 3 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Euthyphro is the best answer I'm likely to get. Thanks. --Tamfang (talk) 01:09, 7 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Any active discussion groups on English literature, literary theory etc.?

Wonder if there is any active groups involving researchers and teachers who can answer queries and explain things to noobs on any platform like Facebook, Telegram or somewhere on the web? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2405:201:f00a:20c6:6995:6b37:559e:27a8 (talk • contribs)

The subreddit /r/AskLiteraryStudies/ appears to be active. Card Zero (talk) 12:45, 3 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I'm pretty sure there are multiple stackexchange sites on those topics too. 2601:648:8202:350:0:0:0:2B99 (talk) 18:41, 3 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Spanish Royal Guard

Please, can someone find the complete list of commanders from 1504 to now, and edit them on the page? Thank you very much! --79.35.154.3 15:01, 3 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]