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Full Idea
The story of Abraham (and Isaac) contains a teleological suspension of the ethical. ...In his action he overstepped the ethical altogether, and had a higher idea outside it, in relation to which he suspended it.
Clarification
Abraham was willing to kill his son Isaac, in obedience to God. It is 'teleological' because it has a higher purpose.
Gist of Idea
Abraham was willing to suspend ethics, for a higher idea
Source
Søren Kierkegaard (Fear and Trembling [1843], Prob I)
Book Ref
Kierkegaard,Søren: 'Fear and Trembling', ed/tr. Hannay,Alastair [Penguin 1985], p.88
A Reaction
My immediate response is to find this proposal very sinister. I can't remotely understand what Abraham's (or God's) 'higher' idea could be that could justify this crime. Maybe ethics is suspended if you are on the beach and a tidal wave arrives?
| 8004 | In 'The Laws', to obey the law is to be obey god [Plato, by MacIntyre] |
| 3042 | Stoics teach that law is identical with right reason, which is the will of Zeus [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
| 5965 | The source of all justice is Zeus and the universal nature [Chrysippus] |
| 2651 | God doesn't obey the laws of nature; they are subject to the law of God [Cicero] |
| 8010 | William of Ockham is the main spokesman for God's commands being the source of morality [William of Ockham] |
| 3637 | Ideas in God's mind only have value if he makes it so [Descartes] |
| 6223 | If the will and pleasure of God controls justice, then anything wicked or unjust would become good if God commanded it [Cudworth] |
| 6226 | The requirement that God must be obeyed must precede any authority of God's commands [Cudworth] |
| 12570 | The finite and dependent should obey the supreme and infinite [Locke] |
| 6249 | If goodness is constituted by God's will, it is a tautology to say God's will is good [Hutcheson] |
| 7577 | Abraham was willing to suspend ethics, for a higher idea [Kierkegaard] |
| 4502 | Morality cannot survive when the God who sanctions it is missing [Nietzsche] |
| 3845 | Without God there is no intelligibility or value [Sartre] |
| 4009 | Nominalists defended the sovereignty of God against the idea of natural existing good and evil [Taylor,C] |
| 20703 | How could God have obligations? What law could possibly impose them? [Davies,B] |