How Does Lewis Define The Law Of Human Nature

Decent Essays
• Question 1: According to Lewis in Book I Chapter 1, ‘The Law of Human Nature,’ how does he define the Law of Human Nature/Moral Law? And using examples from Lewis, how does he distinguish this law from other laws?
In the beginning of Book 1 chapter 1 Lewis sets up an argument stating that the existence of a moral law is considerably based upon simple logic and reason. The establishment of this law forms two Very important purposes. First, it establishes that people tend to acknowledge through behavior what they consider morally right, while also placing moral expectations on others, as well as ourselves which results in a self-divulge idea of a moral law "...the most remarkable thing is this. Whenever you find a man who says he does not believe

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    In the reading McCloakey talks about proofs. He believes that three proofs move ordinary theist their theism. The first proof that he speaks about is cosmological, which is the chain that every created thing is being caused right now. There is a slight argument over the creation, who is God, having a cause in the beginning. It is believed that if the proofs fail from an observational perspective; then the proof is proven false.…

    • 1532 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    ETHC-445 Principles of Ethics Final Exam http://uphomework.com/downloads/ethc-445-principles-ethics-final-exam/ 1. (TCOs 2, 4, 5, 6) The idea that the assisted suicide of terminally ill patients should be allowed simply at the patient’s direction reflects what type of ethics? (Points : 5) Hobbes’ State of Nature…

    • 1824 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What is happiness? Do we have a right to have it? In the essay “We have no Right to Happiness” C. S Lewis claims that we do not have a right to happiness and sets his foundation on an anecdote. Throughout our life we meet so many different people; some are happy while some are not, but it is not up to us to decide whether they are happy or not, and what makes one person happy would make another person happy, or whether it is the right path to happiness. In the article mentioned above, Lewis describes a story about a husband who divorced his wife to be with other women which consequently drove the wife to committing suicide.…

    • 1338 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    C.S. Lewis begins his novel Mere Christianity by discussing the Law of Human Nature and various other laws that are important to his discussion. Lewis states that people must be aware of a Law or Rule of fair play or else there would be much more quarrelling among humans. This Rule or Law used to be known as the Law of Nature; however, laws of nature today will usually refer to things such as gravitation, heredity, or the laws of chemistry (Lewis, 4). The Law of Nature, when concerning issues of right and wrong, is more correctly referred to as the Law of Human Nature today. People will argue that this Law of Nature is fraudulent because they believe that different ages have had different moralities, but Lewis claims that moral teachings throughout…

    • 1009 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Abolition of Man and That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis are novels based on lectures given by the author that pursue the theme of man lacking empathy. Within the first book, The Abolition of Man, Lewis describes the importance of basing all judgments we make on what he calls the Tao: the conception of human behavior that, historically and in different moral traditions, has been considered good. As an emotion is not a judgment, it can be said that emotions and feelings do not respond to logical reasons—yet, they can be reasonable or unreasonable. Lewis states that “the heart never replaces the head; but it can, and must, obey it” (The Abolition of Man 19). Therefore, if Aristotle says that the aim of education is to get the student to have predilections and aversions for what corresponds, “the duty of the modern educator is not to cut down forests, but to irrigate deserts”, that is, the way to help the student to defend oneself properly against false feelings is to inculcate fair feelings (The Abolition of Man 13-14).…

    • 1837 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When the Founding Fathers wrote their articles they had a lot of major political ideas, which are political beliefs to make a fair life for everyone together possible with rights and laws. It is one 's political moral code and worldview. The most important major political idea are the laws of nature and nature’s God.…

    • 1251 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    However, in contrast to the question previously answered, when dealing with the second question, does injustice contradict with human nature, one must critically think of, and understand, what is meant by human nature. Human nature in this sense is not like that of the natural instinct of a wild creature, but rather it is the natural law all humans universally abide by. Cicero describes it best as, “knowledge of the truth, comes closest to the essentials of human nature, for we are all impelled and attracted towards a desire for discovery and knowledge.” It is the private interest of an individual which a person seeks and ultimately, voluntarily, agrees to follow. With that in mind, this question is referring to the unwritten law among human…

    • 1147 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Law was a gift of grace from God to the Israelites, he wanted them to be equipped to live well and pass his word along to younger generations, so that they could continue to validate his covenant. The law was regulatory to the Israelites, but is revelatory to current generations. The Israelites had been living in Egypt where they worshiped false gods, the law he provided was God’s way of guiding them back in the right direction so that they could be in relationship with him. To us, the purpose is to learn about God’s nature and relate to him through that. It is also important to recognize the two most important categories of law.…

    • 997 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Philosophy 2306 Final Paper In The Elements of Moral Philosophy, James and Stuart Rachels discuss the ideas of ethics that a novice should challenge. This book consists of thirteen chapters. First, the author begins with the minimum conception of morality; the following three chapters cover cultural relativism and the connection between morality and religion; the middle chapters, five to twelve, focus on essential ethical theories; and the last chapter describes the author’s perspective of what a satisfactory moral theory should be like.…

    • 1430 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    What is it that makes a good deed inherently good? Some may say that the goodness of an action is characterized solely by ones motivation to do good, while other’s believe that the end result is all that matters. As human beings we are free to choose our path in life, as well as our beliefs and our actions. This allows us to decide whether we want to act in a way that will cause harm or good. Since we have the free will to decide our course of action to get the results we want, it also comes with the responsibility to choose whether we wish to act ethically.…

    • 1510 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In “The Ethics of Natural Law,” C.E. Harris explains the views of natural-law theorists. First, he states that the moral standard of natural law is that the actions that promote the values that follow the natural inclinations of human beings are right. These values include life, procreation, knowledge, and sociability. Anything, such as murder, birth control, stifling intellectual curiosity, or spreading lies, that opposes these four natural inclinations is wrong. Then, Harris notes that natural-law theory is absolutist, explaining that no values specified by natural inclinations may be violated and values cannot be measured or compared.…

    • 588 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Kant believed that the moral worth of an action depends solely on the motive of the action and that the supreme principle of morality is the categorical imperative. Now, consider that a man named Jones is terminally ill with only a week to live and his last week will be full of pain and misery. However, Jones, his family, and his physicians all agree that a drug-induced, painless death would be preferable; Jones just has to determine if an induced death is morally permissible. In order to do this Jones’, his family and his physicians must test their action as a categorical imperative by using Kant’s Universal Law, Law of Nature, and Humanity Formulation.…

    • 1363 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Naturalism in Jack London’s The Law of Life In “The Law of Life”, Jack London expressed a life law by using old Koshooh’s whole life experience. Jack London was a famous naturalist novelist in the 19th century, and he was greatly influenced by Darwin's "survival of the fittest" and Spencer's evolution theory (Donald, Pizer)从哪里开始quote呢?加一个mark.…

    • 804 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The reasoning behind this idea is that law must be authoritative. A key way to identify ‘law’ is that it openly claims this authority – which in turn provides the incentive to act on it. But for law to be successful, it must be able to be followed without any deliberations on the reasoning behind it. Raz thus distinguishes between the reasoning behind a law, which may involve consideration of its moral merits, and the law itself, which, by virtue of its need to have a genuine claim to authority, must not incorporate any moral…

    • 1632 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    In fact, according to me we have a “prima facie” duty to obey laws. If the law is legally enacted by an authorised entity it is valid in the legal system. Therefore, the law is applied and obeyed by citizens. In other words, “law is to be obeyed because it is the law” . However, “prima facie” means that “it is accepted as correct until proved otherwise” .…

    • 2196 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays