Dave Emnett 3/3/06 Mr. Sciuto

Outline of ch1-4 of Mere Christianity

(By: C.S. Lewis)

I. The Law of Human Nature

A. Definition

1) a standard of behavior

2) a rule of fair play of right and wrong

3) that third instinct that tells you to follow the right choice

B. Effects Who? And how we respond?

1) effects everyone everywhere

2) it is the same even in different countries and moral systems

3) we tend to not follow it

C. Two Points

1) human beings all over the world have the curious idea that they ought to believe a certain way

2) they do not in fact behave that way

II. Some Objections

A. Three Ways of Seeing It

1) the moral law is the third instinct, one instinct tells us to do right another instinct tells us to save ourselves and do wrong, the third instinct tells us that we ought to follow the right way, the first instinct

2) the instinct usually tells us to side with the weaker impulse which happens to be the right choice

3) the moral law is a kind of tune that directs instincts, there are no good or bad instincts

B. Two Resons it’s Like Math

1) though there are differences between the moral ideas of one time or country and those of another, the differences aren’t really that great

2) do you think that the morality of one people or another is necessarily better? no

III. The Reality of the Law

A. Not Like Nature

1) the law of human nature, the law of decent behavior is not like nature

2) it is not just what happens like a stone falling when dropped

B. Reality

1) we know that the law of human nature is real it is there

2) we know its not like the law of gravity

3) therefore it must be something real but also something above and beyond ordinary facts

IV. What Lies Behind the Law

A. Two Views of the Universe

1) created by chance by some matter in space

2) created by a mind of some sort with purposes

B. What Does All This Tell Us About the Universe?

1) if there is a controlling power outside the universe then it would show itself in one of the facts of the universe

2) it is manifested in humans and the moral law something that we cannot control but we know is there



“Law is mind without reason” –Aristotle

How can someone believe that they can make statements that apply to everyone everywhere?

First of all, I think than anyone who does make these kinds of statements realizes that they might be wrong, that they cannot be absolutely sure. To be absolutely sure they would have to test every person in the world which is virtually impossible. Sometimes statements that people make that they think apply to everyone everywhere are based on science. These statements are not questioned because everyone in is human and therefore has the same generally physical features and organs and such. Other statements like Aristotle’s right plan for happiness or the U.N. Declaration on Human Rights are not based on science though they may be based on experience and experiments. C.S. Lewis would respond that people can make these statements because they have studied man. Lewis would say that man is the only thing in the entire universe which man can know more about rather than just what can be gathered from external observations. And that is because we are man. Therefore, because we are man and because we have studied ourselves and others we know about the “Law of Human Nature,” that third instinct that tells us to follow the instinct that is the “right” choice. Everyone has that feeling of what they ought to do inside them. Or does everyone have that feeling? Could there be someone who doesn’t have that third instinct? There very well might be we cannot know for sure but if there was we would then ask, Are they human? I think anyone who is going to make statements that would apply to everyone they should have done a plentiful amount of research and experiments to back this up. Even if all morality is subjective and cultural it is still basically the same. The basic ideas that we should not kill, lie, or cheat exist everywhere around the world, in everyone, and have always existed. Therefore people can make generalizations about others by using what they feel. Using biblical references, God says that he made everyone in his image and likeness. So we all in some way are the same. If we all are the same then one person can make generalizations about everyone.

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