S1E3 – MC B1C1 – “The Law of Human Nature”

In today’s episode we begin Book I of “Mere Christianity”, which is entitled “Right and wrong as a clue to the meaning of the universe”, where C.S. Lewis builds an argument for the existence of God based upon the idea that there is a Moral Law.

S1E3: “The Law of Human Nature” (Download)

Show Notes

Introduction

Chit-Chat

• A correction from our episodes on the Preface! David had previously attributed a saying to the Preacher to the Papal Household, Raniero Cantalamessa, but it turns out to originally come from Paragraph 20 of the Second Vatican Council document, Ut Unum Sint…

This is what Pope John XXIII believed about the unity of the Church and how he saw full Christian unity. With regard to other Christians, to the great Christian family, he observed: ‘What unites us is much greater than what divides us.’

Ut Unum Sint

• Before diving in, let’s explore the structure.
• “Mere Christianity” is essentially made up of four books. The first asserts that the moral concept of right and wrong is the clue to the meaning of the universe. The second discusses fundamental Christian beliefs and the conceptions of God, particularly focusing in on the second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ. Following this, book three – Matt’s favourite – discusses Christian behaviour, the cardinal virtues, and morality, specifically sexual morality. The fourth book is all about the Trinity, the concepts of time and eternity, and what it means to become a “son of God”.
• Jack begins this chapter by laying out the moral argument for God. There are two main points; first, that there is a law of human nature, and second, that humans break this law constantly.

Toast

• David and Matt were finishing off a six-pack of Blue Moon.

Discussion

01. “Quarrelling”

• Lewis starts by talking about the things people say when quarrelling.

They say things like this: ‘How’d you like it if anyone did the same to you?’ – ‘That’s my seat, I was there first’ – ‘Leave him alone, he isn’t doing you any harm’ – ‘Why should you shove in first?’ – ‘Give e a bit of your orange, I gave you a bit of mine’ – ‘Come on, you promised.’ People say things like that every day, educated people as well as uneducated, and children as well as grown-ups.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, The Law of Human Nature

• Jack goes on to say what we can learn from these statements.

…the man who makes [these objections] is not merely saying that the other man’s behaviour does not happen to please him. He is appealing to some kind of standard of behaviour which he expects the other man to know about.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, The Law of Human Nature

Nearly always he tries to make out that what he has been doing does not really go against the standard, or that if it does there is some special excuse. He pretends that there is some special reason in this particular case why the person who took the seat first should not keep it, or that things were quite different when he was given the bit of orange, or that something has turned up which lets him off keeping his promise.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, The Law of Human Nature

• There is no point in arguing if there is no real standard, as Lewis shows in the following analogy…

Quarrelling means trying to show that the other man is in the wrong. And there would be no sense in trying to do that unless you and he had some sort of agreement as to what Right and Wrong are; just as there would be no sense in saying that a footballer had committed a foul unless there was some agreement about the rules of football.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, The Law of Human Nature

02. “The Law of Human Nature”

• Lewis goes on to introduce the Law of Human Nature, comparing it to the other laws of the natural world, such as gravity. He returns to this idea in chapter 3, discussing the implications of choice in natural law.

A body could not choose whether it obeyed the law of gravitation or not, but a man could choose either to obey the Law of Human Nature or to disobey it… As a body [a man] is subjected to gravitation…if you leave him unsupported in mid-air, he has no more choice about falling than a stone has…but the law which is peculiar to human nature…is the one he can disobey if he chooses.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, The Law of Human Nature

• As the average person could easily deduce, people disobey this law on a frequent basis. So, is it really an obvious reality if this law is flagrantly disobeyed so often? Lewis explores this idea…

You might not find an odd individual here and there who did not know it, just as you find a few people who are colour-blind or have no ear for a tune. But taking the race as a whole, they thought that the human idea of decent behaviour was obvious to everyone. And I believe they were right. If they were not, then all the things we said about [World War II] was nonsense. What was the sense in saying the enemy were in the wrong unless Right is a real thing which the Nazis at the bottom knew as well as we did and ought to have practiced? If they had had no notion of what we mean y right, then, though we might still have had to fight them, we could no more have blamed them for that than for the colour of their hair.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, The Law of Human Nature

• In this episode, David mentioned Godwin’s Law, which states that “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Hitler increases”. However, this doesn’t apply here, as World War II was lived reality for Lewis.

03. “Different Moralities”

• A counter-argument to Lewis’ declaration of a universal natural law would be the argument for differing standards and moralities across time and space. In response, Jack explains that the differences between these differing moralities are somewhat trivial.

…some people say…different civilisations and different ages have had quite different moralities. But this is not true. There have been differences between their moralities, but these have never amounted to anything like a total difference. If anyone will take the trouble to compare the moral teaching of, say, the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Hindus, Chinese, Greeks and Romans, what will really strike him will be how very like they are to each other and to our own.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, The Law of Human Nature

• For readers who think that this is a cop-out, he explains that he has collected the evidence of this in a separate book called “The Abolition of Man”. In this work, Jack argues that there is a common morality found across cultures and throughout time, which he calls the “Tao”. In the appendix of that book, he provides evidence for this claim.

…think what a totally different morality would mean. Think of a country where people were admired for running away in a battle, or where a man felt proud of double-crossing all the people who had been kindest to him. You might just as well imagine a country where two and two made five.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, The Law of Human Nature

04. “Hypocrisy and Excuses”

• Lewis has a pithy quote for those who do not believe that there is objective right or wrong…

He may break his promise to you, but if you try breaking one to him he will be complaining ‘It’s not fair’ before you can say Jack Robinson.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, The Law of Human Nature

• Frank Turek makes an observation in his book “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist” regarding the role of the conscience…

We see the presence of the moral law more clearly in our reactions than in our actions.

Frank Turek, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist

05. “Breaking the Law”

• Though we feel the burden of the law, we do not follow it. As for the people who think themselves angels, Lewis gently pokes fun…

None of us are really keeping the Law of Nature. If there are any exceptions among you, I apologise to them. They had much better read some other bookm for nothing I am going to say concerns them. And now, turning to the ordinary human beings who are left…

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, The Law of Human Nature

• Just because people break the law does not mean the law is nullified.

…people sometimes get their sums wrong; but they are not a matter of mere taste and opinion any more than the multiplication table.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, The Law of Human Nature

• The excuses given only reinforce the reality of the law.

I am just the same. That is to say, I do not succeed in keeping the Law of Nature very well, and the moment anyone tells me I am not keeping it, there starts up in my mind a string of excuses as long as your arm…If we do not believe in decent behaviour, why should we be so anxious to make excuses for not having behaved decently?

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, The Law of Human Nature

Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.

St. Paul, Romans 2:14-15

06. “We Know What We Do”

• Lewis wraps up the chapter with a quick summary…

These, then, ar the two points I wanted to make. First, that 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. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of Nature; they break it. These two facts are the foundation of all clear thinking about ourselves and the universe we life in.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, The Law of Human Nature

Wrap-Up

Concluding Thoughts

• For original show notes, click here.

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