ABSTRACT
Property-identical divine command theory (PDCT) maintains that the property being obligatory is identical to the property being commanded by God. According to PDCT, being obligatory is identical to being commanded by God in just the way that being water is identical to being H2O or being gold is identical to being the element with atomic number 79.1 If these identity statements are true, then they express a posteriori necessary truths. Of course, it remains a matter of some debate whether these identity statements are true. Certainly the so-called discovery that being obligatory is identical to being commanded by God might be mistaken. After all, many utilitarians and ethical egoists might claim to discover instead that being obligatory is identical to being maximally benefi cial or that being obligatory is identical to being most in one’s self-interest.2 Should we learn that the utilitarians or the ethical egoists are right after all, then it is an a posteriori necessary truth that being obligatory is identical to being maximally benefi cial or that being obligatory is identical to being most in one’s self-interest, and so on.
