W. R. Sorley, Moral Values and the Idea of God (Gifford Lectures, 1918)
W. R. Sorley, Knightbridge Professor of Moral Philosophy at Cambridge
Careful to a fault, and honest about the fault: the moral argument alone does not close the case, and it says so.
Every stat is a checkable fact about the actual book, not a designer's mood. Bars are drawn against the highest value any book reaches.
W. R. Sorley gave these lectures at Aberdeen during the First World War. His argument is narrow and careful. Moral values are real, and they bind us whether or not anyone obeys them. A standard like that must belong to a Mind whose nature is good. Sorley did not say this proves God by itself. He said it rules out a world made of nothing but matter.
By levelling up. A book that develops keeps what it knew and learns the rest on its new schedule.
| Lv | Move | Type | Cat. | Pwr | Acc | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chapter… | Bible | Scripture | — | — | 12 |
| 11 | Affirm | — | Status | — | — | 1 |
| 44 | Not Along One Line | Rationality | Argument | 68 | 100% | 20 |
| 46 | Random Verse | Bible | Argument | 10 | 100% | 30 |
| 48 | It Held Before You Saw It | Ethics | Argument | 82 | 100% | 15 |
| 52 | The Order of a Supreme Mind | Ethics | Argument | 92 | 100% | 10 |
How to read these. In Scholar’s Dream, books argue with each other. Each thing a book can do in a debate is a move, and most moves carry a real quotation — the words the book puts on the table when it uses that move.
Strong against lists the opposing books and arguments a move was written to answer. Used against one of them, it hits much harder than usual: ×2 means twice the normal force, ×4 four times. It is the game’s way of saying: this is the sentence that answers that argument. Open an entry to read why.
“For in him we live, and move, and have our being. As some of your own poets have said.”
Acts 17:28 (WEB) — Paul at the Areopagus, quoting the Athenians’ own poets back to them.
In the gamePick the part of the opponent’s case that is true and affirm it. That point can no longer be used against you, and the opponent’s Defend falls sharply. It deals no damage. Affirm something false and you have only agreed with an error.
“…morality is only one factor in the whole which theism professes to interpret. We cannot take it alone, as something independent of all other features of reality.”
W. R. Sorley, Moral Values and the Idea of God (Gifford Lectures 1914–15; Cambridge, 1918), Lecture XIII, public domain. (trimmed quote)public domain
In the gameSorley is honest about his argument. The moral argument is one line of evidence among several. It shows that matter alone cannot explain the world, and leaves the rest to the other arguments.
“…their validity is not in any way dependent upon their being manifested in the character or conduct of persons, or even on their being recognised in the thoughts of persons.”
W. R. Sorley, Moral Values and the Idea of God (Gifford Lectures 1914–15; Cambridge, 1918), Lecture XIII, public domain. (trimmed quote)public domain
In the gameThe reply to every account that makes morality a thing people built — evolved, constructed, inherited. Sorley’s point is that the good has a claim on us that does not wait for our recognition and was not weaker before anyone acknowledged it.
“The question is answered if we regard the moral order as the order of a Supreme Mind and the ideal of goodness as belonging to this Mind.”
W. R. Sorley, Moral Values and the Idea of God (Gifford Lectures 1914–15; Cambridge, 1918), Lecture XIII, public domain.public domain
In the gameMoral values are real, they bind us whether or not we obey or even notice them, and a claim that holds like that cannot be floating in the void. Sorley’s answer: the moral order is the order of a Mind, and goodness is what that Mind is.
Sorley grants the moral feeling is real — more real than Russell’s account can afford — and asks the question Russell will not: what does a binding claim like that hang on?
Nietzsche says the value is real and the ground is gone. Sorley keeps the value and says the ground is a Mind — which is the half Nietzsche will not consider.
The madman is right that the crowd does not grasp what it lost. Sorley picks up the thing they dropped — a moral order — and asks where it could rest except in a Mind.