Dictionary of Philosophy of Religion

DIRTY HANDS

66

north of Asia Minor, including the land of
the Getae, about which he later wrote and
spoke. After Domitian’s death in 96 CE,
Dion was able to return and continue
his life as an orator. Being well-schooled
in both classical Greek traditions and
philosophical schools, Dion makes multi-
ple references to and offers critiques of
both. He is also one of the few sources
in existence on the Greek mystery cults.
Unfortunately, most of Dion’s discourses
have been lost (including his complete
discourse on the Getae). A total of 80 of
his discourses currently exist; the most
famous of these are his Olympic Discourse
and his four discourses on Kingship. The
details of Dion’s death are unknown, but
he was certainly alive and involved in a
lawsuit with Pliny the Younger in 112 CE.

DIRTY HANDS. A popular term for
the problem of persons who have done
ill in the process of bringing about
some presumed desirable ends. In the
fourth century CE, Basil the Great did
not excommunicate or punish Christians
who were soldiers (and who thus killed
during war), although he held that their
unclean hands made them unable to
take communion until three years after
their military service. Modern philoso-
phers have wrestled with the question of
whether some honorable practices (gov-
ernance) inevitability involve dirty hands
and that to deny this involves an imprac-
tical moral rigorism.

DISSENT. An important religious and

moral category, whereby a person may

claim allegiance to a religious community

or tradition and yet protest or not consent

to some community or traditional rule

or teaching. For example, one may claim

to be a faithful Roman Catholic and yet

dissent on church teaching about the

celibacy of priests or the impermissibility

of female priests.

DIVINE. See GOD.

DIVINE ATTRIBUTES. See ATTRI-

BUTES, DIVINE; and GOD, CON-

CEPTS AND “ATTRIBUTES” OF.

DIVINE COMMAND THEORY. The

belief that moral truths can be analyzed

in terms of God’s approval or disapproval.

Strong versions hold that moral truths

consist of what God commands, whereas

moderate versions claim that moral

truths can be analyzed in terms of God’s

approval or disapproval. On this view, X

is morally wrong entails God disapproves

of X. Some object to the strong version

on the grounds that an atheist can have a

clear comprehension of moral truths

while denying the existence of God. This

alone does not seem decisive, for one

can have a clear comprehension of some

things and properties (from water to

the concept of truth) without knowing or