Chapter One
The Law of Human Nature
Nowadays, when we talk of the 'laws of nature' we usually mean things like gravitation, or heredity, or the laws of chemistry. But when older thinkers called the Law of Right and Wrong 'the law of
Nature', they really meant the Law of Human Nature. The idea was
that, just as all bodies are governed by the law of gravitation, and organisms
by biological laws, so the creature called man also had his
law -- with this great difference, that 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. -- CSL
In what ways does the Law of Human Nature work in your life?
Where does your knowledge of this law come from?
Think of a country where people were admired for running away
in battle, or where a man felt proud of double-crossing all the people
who had been kindest to him. You might just as well try to imagine
a country where two and two made five. -- CSL
What laws of right and wrong govern your life? Why do you follow
these rules? How did you come to believe these laws were right and
that going against them was wrong?
These, then, are 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 live in. CSL
Do you agree with Lewis’s statement? What real world examples
prove or disprove this idea for you?
Continues.
