Oxford studies in Metaethics.. Volume 1

This inaugural volume of Oxford Studies in Metaethics, edited by Russ Shafer-Landau, establishes a significant forum for contemporary debates in moral philosophy that intersect with fundamental questions about the nature and source of moral reality. While not explicitly focused on theistic concerns, the collection engages substantive issues regarding moral objectivity, normativity, and the metaphysical foundations of ethics that bear directly on traditional arguments about God's relationship to morality.

The volume brings together leading philosophers to examine core metaethical questions through diverse methodological approaches, including conceptual analysis, metaphysical investigation, and epistemological inquiry. Several contributions address whether moral facts require particular metaphysical foundations, a question intimately connected to divine command theory and other theistic accounts of morality. The collection notably advances debates about moral realism, examining whether objective moral truths exist independently of human beliefs and practices, and if so, what grounds them.

Particularly relevant to the God debate are discussions of moral supervenience and the explanatory role of moral properties. Contributors explore whether naturalistic accounts can adequately explain moral phenomena or whether additional metaphysical resources are required. This engages directly with arguments that posit God as necessary for objective morality. The volume also addresses moral motivation and reasons for action, examining whether moral facts necessarily provide reasons for compliance, a question central to debates about divine authority and moral obligation.

The collection's dialogical character emerges through its presentation of competing perspectives on fundamental metaethical issues. Rather than advocating a particular stance on theistic morality, it provides sophisticated analyses of the conceptual terrain within which such debates occur. Contributors examine the semantics of moral language, the metaphysics of moral properties, and the epistemology of moral knowledge, each area offering resources for both theistic and naturalistic accounts of morality.

Shafer-Landau's editorial vision positions this volume as essential reading for understanding contemporary metaethical debates that inform discussions of God and morality. By bringing analytical rigor to questions about moral reality's ultimate nature and source, the collection provides crucial philosophical infrastructure for evaluating competing claims about whether morality requires or precludes divine grounding. The volume thus serves as an important reference point for scholars working at the intersection of ethics and philosophy of religion.