What I particularly found intriguing was his argument for the existence of some kind of supernatural being (i.e., God). He argues that the fact that humans do, in fact, have such a thing as morality indicates that there is a supernatural creative force of some kind. Consider, for instance, a person who has to choose between being honest and suffering for it, or being dishonest for his own benefit. When facing this choice, there are in fact three things in his mind. Two of them are the options he has to choose between (honesty and dishonesty), and the third thing is a something that tells him that he should choose honesty. That third thing is separate from his own wanting something-- he may very well want to choose dishonesty-- and can't really be construed as his own "survival instinct" either. Take, for example, the case of a man who sees another man drowning. Again, he has two choices (to help the drowning man at the risk of his own safety, or not help the drowning man and remain safe himself), and a third thing in his mind which tells him that he should help the drowning man, even at personal risk. That couldn't possibly be "survival instinct," because the thing telling him to make the "right" choice is in fact telling him to risk his own survival.
Lewis argues that "morality" is something that man couldn't have come up with himself, and its universality is an indication of its reality. If you look at the religions and moral codes around the world and throughout history, you find a common thread. Sure, there are lots of deviations and differences, but they all contain certain tenets, such as "don't steal," "don't lie," "don't murder," "don't hurt other people," etc. In fact, instances which argue exceptions actually prove the case of objective morality. When somebody is in violation of the moral law, they don't usually say "well, that's a subjective law so it doesn't matter what I do." Instead, they try to argue that what they are doing doesn't really violate the law, or that they are somehow an exception to the law.
Even in the case of people who do argue for subjective morality, you will find that they will be just as upset as anyone else if you cheat them or lie to them. They will at once be appealing to the very moral law that they previously dismissed; they will try to find some objective reason why you should not lie to or cheat them. Lewis takes this as an indication that everybody, deep down, knows that there is such a thing as right and wrong, and that we should live by it.
I had never thought of it in that way before. Of course, we are told by the religious community that morality is something that comes from a source outside of humanity, namely God. I had never considered, though, that the fact that humans even have such a concept as morality-- indeed, that human language contains such words as "should" and "ought"-- is an indication of a supernatural being existing outside of human cognizance. How fascinating.
Nice summary. That's why I lvoe C.S. Lewis too...he makes you think deeply.
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