Mere Christianity
Book 1
Skit 1
p.3
Quarreling
 He is appealing to some kind of standard he expects the other
to know.
 Men do not refute the standard, rather they justify their
actions by the standard
 This is what Lewis refers to as the “Law of Human Nature”
2 Points of Chapter 1
 Human Beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that
they ought to behave in a certain way and cannot really get
rid of it.
 They do not, in fact, behave that way. They know the Law of
Nature; they break it.
Objections
Herd Instinct
 Is our desire to do good just an instinctual, animalistic desire?
 We do have instinctual feelings.
Skit
p.9
Example
 Person Needs Help
 Herd Instinct – Help Them
 Self Preservation Instinct – Don’t Help
 Something inside you tells you what you “Ought” to do
Herd Instinct Continued
 What is it inside us that asks us to ignore our instincts?
 The most dangerous thing you can do is set up any one
instinct to be followed at all costs
Skit
p.12-13
2nd Objection – Social Conventions
 If a teacher or parent teaches something, it does not mean
that they just made it up.
 Multiplication tables taught but not made up.
 Some Social Conventions are simply that such as keeping to
the right of the road when driving.
Social Conventions
 Moral laws similar throughout different cultures:
 Some morals better than others
 Christian morals better than Nazi morals
 The moment you say that one set of moral ideas can be better
than another, you are, in fact measuring them both by a
standard, saying that one of them conforms to that standard
more nearly than the other.
Real Morality
 When you say one set of moral ideas can be better than
another, you are, in fact measuring them both by a standard,
saying that one of them conforms to a standard more than
another.
 You are comparing them to “Real Morality”
Skit ,
p.13 14
New York City Example
 Is it “Whatever Idea I Have in My Head” about NYC or is it
something real?
 If morality is whatever I have in my head, you can’t say one is
better than another.
Skit ,
p.18 19
Is Morality Simply What is Convenient
For You?
 Seat on a train.
 Tripping
 Cheating, keeping promises, telling the truth
Skit
p.19
Is Morality Simply What is Good for
Society?
 Why ought I to be unselfish? Because it is good for society.
Why should I care what’s good for society except when it
happens to pay me personally? Because you ought to be
unselfish. Why should I be unselfish? Because it’s good for
society?
 One great big circle!
There is something above and
beyond the ordinary facts of
men’s behaviour, and yet quite
definitely real – a real law,
which none of us made, but
which we find pressing on us
The only packet I’m allowed to
open is Man. When I do,
especially when I open that
particular man called Myself, I
find that I do not exist on my
own, that I am under a law;
that somebody or something
wants me to behave in a
certain way.
Two Bits of Evidence
The Universe
 Great Artist
 Merciless
Moral Law
 Interested in Right Conduct
 Fair play
 Unselfishness
 Courage
 Good Faith
 Honesty
 Truthfulness
 He must hate most of what humans do.
Our “Terrible Fix”
 If the universe is not governed by
absolute goodness, then all our
efforts are in the long run are
hopeless.
 But if it is, then we are making
ourselves enemies to that
goodness every day, and are not
in the least likely to do any
better tomorrow.
If you look for truth, you
may find comfort in the end:
if you look for comfort you
will not get either comfort
or truth – only soft soap and
wishful thinking to begin
with and, in the ed, despair.
Spend Time With a Partner Memorizing
This Argument for the State of Mankind
Write a Reflection on Today’s Class in
your Notebook