In "The Poison of Subjectivism," C. S. Lewis primarily focuses on self-examination. In this essay, makes fun of one common statement that many make today. We say, "Well, my I have different morals than he does," or simply, "I have morals, unlike him." These statements would be considered foolish according to Lewis's standards, for we all have the same set of morals instilled by God. When I say this, however, some claim that how can we all be instilled with the same morals. When the Mayans (or whomever) were in a culture of sacrificing humans to foreign Gods, surely they weren't merely ignoring their instincts. Then obviously we couldn't be instilled with a set of morals.
In response to this argument, and perhaps in the defense of Lewis, I claim that human sacrifice is not really part of the Moral Law. Human sacrifice is not something that we are instilled NOT to do. Because this appears to be a bold claim, perhaps I should use a more concrete example.
Polygamy. In class, we all heard Professor Ribiero tell the story of the man who killed his four other wives in order to be baptized. I'm not in a position to claim whether this man knew that killing his wives was wrong, but I am in a position to say that the only reason he thought his polygamy was wrong was because he was told that it was. I do not think that his man was instilled with an idea that he must only have one wife, and nor do I think King Solomon was. This statement makes me sound like I am arguing against myself, but my point is, I believe that polygamy is not in the law of morality. That is not to say that there is no Law of Morality. Only having one wife is not just in the Law. Therefore, terrible things in culture that we practiced, that have been practiced, and that will be practiced in the future, are not really in the Moral Law. I believe that the Moral Law simply implies that we know the difference between Right and Wrong. therefore an example of the Moral Law is hard to come by. The best way I can explain my definition of the Law of Morality in an example is with the following. In a society where sacrificing every other 13 year-old son is fine, but to rob a family in the night is punishable by death, the man creeping outside of the house knows that what he is doing is deceptive and wrong. However, the father who is sacrificing his son knows that what he is doing is right. In fact, it may be selfish of the father to not sacrifice his son, so he has an extra hand to help out the family. Is it wrong to sacrifice the son? Of course this sounds like a silly question, but in the culture at the time, this question is a blatant No. In our society, the answer is a blatant Yes.
To conclude, we all know right and wrong instinctively. The thing that changes right and wrong is culture. Of course there is ultimate right and wrong, but our interpretation of it changes. I think Lewis would respect my opinion.
It seems that for the story Dr. Pibeiro told us that the man learned about how to be a Christian and what some of the rules were. Both of the Professors were saying that the man who killed his wives did not think that it was wrong because he was told in order to be a Christian you can only have one wife. If the man had been taught the ten commandments, as the professors gave as an example perhaps he would have known that murdering was wrong and that we could simply keep one wife but still care for his other wives and children. I think those who are new to the faith have to be educated about Christianity in a certain order or wrong can happen in the process, as proven with the story.
ReplyDeleteWe sort of touched on a lot of things in class on Friday and I wish we could have gotten a lot more indepth. What you were saying about sacrifice is something that Lewis touches on a little. He says that in our culture we do not sacrifice people because we know that there is no correlation between giving people as sacrifices and recieving a bountiful harvest. I would add to this by saying that we do give sacrifices of time, money etc. The idea that we should give back to God is in our nature, it is the way that we do it that matters.
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with you Mark. To say that culture determines the set of morals, is to subject the law to the will of man. It is a sad thing that some men are deceived to think that certain practices outside of God's law are right to do, but this does not make them right according to God's law.
ReplyDeleteI understand what you are saying, Mark, that culture changes the conditions of the Moral Law. As if what is written into the law of the civilization becomes a sort of Moral Law. I'm not sure, though, that is what Lewis means by one universal Law of Right and Wrong within each of us.
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