A Powerful Mind The human brain is the largest brain of all creatures relative to their body. It contains about 86 billion of nerve cells and billions of nerve fibers which are connected by trillions of connection. Thus, the human mind is and has always been one of the greatest mystery in the the history of mankind. No one has been able to explain, with certainty, the ethics and morality behind the human behavior: actions, cognitions, and emotions. What differentiates right from wrong? In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis suggests there is “a Power behind the facts, a Director, a Guide” who had formed our bodies and breathed life into us. In my opinion, the Creator of all things planted the law of morality, the sense of fairness and empathy, in …show more content…
Lewis mentions, in the beginning of Book One, that men agree on “some kind of Law or Rule of fair play or decent behavior or morality.” The Law of Human Nature obliques people to behave and treat others with fairness and compassion. C.S. Lewis states, “...there is something above and beyond the ordinary facts of men’s behavior, and yet quite definitely real--a real law, which none of us made, but which we find pressing on us.” It was not invented by some Neanderthals or Egyptians who spent their free time thinking about how others should behave. if that was the case, there would not have been many similarities in ethics and …show more content…
Nor was the Law of Human Nature randomly brought into existence and mankind just happened to find them. Therefore, these ideals and criteria on which the foundation of men’s behaviors is built were engraved in the human mind in the very beginning of Earth. There are two fundamental principles in morality: empathy and reciprocity. First, empathy or compassion enhances the sense of morality in an individual. Empathy, the ability to understand and feel the emotions and distress of others, encourages humans to overcome their instinct to desire safety and motivates them to sacrifice themselves in order to protect those around them. Hence, in the event of an emergency, instead of fleeing to safer grounds, we tend to offer our help to the elders, children, and women even though we might risk putting ourselves in danger. Second, reciprocity is tightly connected to the Law of Human Nature. Reciprocity convey the ideas of justice and fairness, the impulse of equal treatment. A virtuous person is driven by their belief in fairness, thus, they have a
In “Toward a Universal Ethics,” written by Michael Gazzaniga, a question is posed to coax his audience toward a science based ethics. “The question is, Do we have an innate moral sense as a species, and if so, can we recognize and accept it on it’s own terms? It is not a good idea to kill because it is not a good idea to kill, not because God or Allah or Buddha said it was not a good idea to kill.”(Gazzaniga, 420 para. 6). Gazzaniga answers the question for us, but he was wrong to assume that the brain’s systematic response to moral situations means that science should dictate ethics and morality. Instead, ethics and morality should be considered a part of humanity, which is influenced and balanced by many things including science, religion, and individual
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis is a book of thirty –one letters in which a retired, senior demon named Screwtape coaches his newly educated nephew, Wormwood. Wormwood is quite troubled when it comes to tempting his “patient.” Nevertheless, he need not fear because faithful uncle Screwtape has offered his services. A unique character featured in the letters is, “The Enemy.” This character refers to God, the natural enemy of Satan. Of course Satan is referred to as “Our Lord.” In the letters, and Wormwood and Screwtape try their very best to please Satan and bring him glory. Although the book is written from the demons’ perspective, Lewis naturally uses it to highlight important truths of the Christian faith.
C.S Lewis was like a rebellious teenager of the modern time period. He lived only during the modern era and very beginning of the postmodern era, but in his later years Lewis liked to describe himself as "old-fashioned", writing using ideas contrary to the time periods in which he lived. The modern and postmodern time periods began to view religion as a myth, and used reason to perceive the world instead. During his younger years Lewis embraced the ideas of the modern era, but his world-view changed upon his conversion to Christianity. Since he had dabbled in aspects of both modern and pre-modern eras, his later works intertwined the ideas of both literary periods.
“Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it” (Lewis, “Mere Christianity”). C.S. Lewis, a renowned broadcaster, essayist, lecturer, novelist, theologian, and Christian apologist, used his writing to create a significant effect on the Christian movement. During his lifetime, Lewis went through an amazing transformation from an avid Atheist to a strong Christian, and dedicated his career to sharing the truths of Christianity in his writing. Lewis utilized Christian apologetics to explain and defend his views of Christianity, and made the idea of Christianity more accessible to
Morality derives from the Latin moralitas meaning, “manner, character, or proper behavior.” In light of this translation, the definition invites the question of what composes “proper behavior” and who defines morality through these behaviors, whether that be God, humanity, or an amalgamation of both. Socrates confronted the moral dilemma in his discourses millennia ago, Plato refined his concepts in his Republic, and leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi would commit their life work to defining and applying the term to political reform. Finally, after so many years, Martin Luther King’s “A Letter from Birmingham Jail” reaches a consensus on the definition of morality, one that weighs the concepts of justice and injustice to describe morality as the
An example that shows that humans cannot distinguish right from wrong is when they were running in the winter so that the Russians would not find them. Everyone was very tired, and when they finally took a break, Elie dropped to the ground. Others piled on and the one on the bottom was Juliek. Elie was the only one who tried to move but he did not succeed. Just before his death, Juliek “play[ed] a fragment of a Beethoven concerto” (95). This showed Juliek’s innocence and soft heart. The others knew that there was somebody on the bottom, but were too fatigued to move and silently let Juliek die. They felt that they were right because they were just trying to in order for them to survive and recover from their suffering. However, they didn’t know or care that someone died because of their actions.
C.S. Lewis begins his book, “Mere Christianity”, by introducing the Law of Right and Wrong or the Laws of Nature. This, however, arises a question. What is the Law of Nature? The Law of Nature is the known difference between right and wrong. That is, mans distinction between what is right and what is wrong. “This law was called the Law of Nature because people thought that everyone knew it and did not need to be taught it”(18). Lewis relates the law to how we treat others. We treat others the way we want to be treated and if they treat us poorly in return we become agitated and annoyed with them. He states that we become a society of excuses when something goes wrong. He goes on to say that we want to behave in a certain way when in reality we do the opposite of what is right or what is wrong. We are humans and humans have primal instincts. We are all capable of using our instincts to do right or wrong. Lewis uses an example of a drowning man to prove this point. When one sees a man in trouble two desires or instincts kick into play, to save the man or ignore him because the situation at hand could endanger you. However, there in another impulse that says help the man. With this comes a conflict of instincts. Do you run and forget about it or do you jump in and help. Most people will help even if the situation is going to endanger their life. This is just one way of seeing moral law. The right in a situation will mostly always prevail over the wrong. “Men ought to be unselfish, ought to be fair. Not that men are selfish, nor that they like being unselfish, but they ought to be”(30). We are creatures of habit and logic. Lewis believes that the moral law is not taught to us rather known by us instinctively. He also believes that the law is real. The law is our behaviors in life via good or bad. Lewis states, “there is something above and beyond the ordinary facts of men’s behavior”(30). This opens Lewis to believe that the natural law is both alive and active in mans life today. Lewis goes on to say that the law must be something above mans behavior. He begins to relate this to the creation of the world.
The content of Mere Christianity, written by C.S. Lewis, found its beginnings as a radio series in 1942 through 1944. During this time Britain was at the start of another war and the frontlines pushed into their own streets. The situation at hand prompted Lewis to share his thoughts in several wartime broadcasts about the problem with pain, suffering, and evil. These talks were gathered and revised to address a reader audience into the book Mere Christianity. Though there is nothing mere about Christianity when one dives deep into the wonders of God and his work, C.S. Lewis eloquently and clearly presents an apologetic examination of the Christian faith and man’s connection to it.
It has long been thought that reason was what moral judgment was based off of. As time changed, emotions have become influential, causally sufficient, and necessary when it comes to forming moral judgments. The authors find that both are present when forming moral judgments (Polzler). This source is credible as it was found in an academic peer-reviewed journal, and on a college sponsored database.
There has been a huge debate throughout the years of whether humans are ethical by nature or not. Despite Christian Keyser’s research evidence that humans are ethical by nature, the evidence from the Milgram experiment shows that we are not ethical by nature. Humans learn to be ethical through genetic disposition as well as environmental factors such as culture, socialization, and parenting. In order to understand if we are ethical or not, we need to understand the difference between being moral or ethical. Many people believe that being moral and ethical are the same thing, but these two terms are a bit different. “Morality is primarily about making correct choices, while ethics is about proper reasoning” (Philosopher, web). Morality is more
Have you ever wanted to free yourself from the terrors and troublesome times of modern society and escape to a magical place? Clive Staples Lewis, or C.S. Lewis as he is better known, created such a place, in his extremely popular children’s series The Chronicles of Narnia. In these books, Lewis has an underlying message about Christianity. He represents four key aspects of Christianity in this series: Christ and God, evil in the world, and faith.
Every human being carries with them a moral code of some kind. For some people it is a way of life, and they consult with their code before making any moral decision. However, for many their personal moral code is either undefined or unclear. Perhaps these people have a code of their own that they abide to, yet fail to recognize that it exists. What I hope to uncover with this paper is my moral theory, and how I apply it in my everyday life. What one does and what one wants to do are often not compatible. Doing what one wants to do would usually bring immediate happiness, but it may not benefit one in the long run. On the other hand, doing what one should do may cause immediate unhappiness, even if it is good for oneself. The whole purpose of morality is to do the right thing just for the sake of it. On my first paper, I did not know what moral theories where; now that I know I can say that these moral theories go in accordance with my moral code. These theories are utilitarianism, natural law theory, and kantianism.
Emotion is a part of what makes us human, so much so that often if someone lacks emotion they are considered non-human; like Frankenstein. In some cases this human characteristic on its own isn’t thought to mix well with moral judgement. With many views supporting this statement, is there still room in the moral code for both reason and emotion? An analysis of the role that the specific emotion empathy has in moral judgment helps explain this matter in Aristotle and Kant’s view; I prefer Aristotle’s prospective.
Our brain controls our body, because of our brains, we are able to tell qualitative differences between colours, tastes of food, our fears, and what brings us happiness(citation). In addition, the concept of what is right and what is wrong is controlled by our brains, which means that it’s truly an illusion that differs from person to person. The same concept can be applied to acts like sexual assault and murder. What makes something like these terrible acts wrong for the majority of the population and not just a distasteful act. To explain further, what a person considers distasteful versus what a person thinks is right or wrong is just a personal illusion that you personally apply to other’s. This makes me question where our moral judgements originate from, or could they just be figments of our imagination? The reason for this is simple, moral judgements are not physical objects and they do not have a mass. The only explanation that I think is reasonable comes from Steven Pinker’s “The Moral Instinct”. The explanation is that “Perhaps we are born with a rudimentary moral sense, and as soon as we build on it with moral reasoning, the nature of moral reality forces us to some conclusions but not others”(Pinker,
How do humans actually behave when faced with the decision to help others? The innate desire that compels humans to help is called altruism by psychologists. Through this feeling, humans transform from a selfish jerk to a more compassionate and caring person. Some psychologists believe that this feeling stems from nature itself. Despite the fact that some altruistic acts originate from the pressures of society, altruism predominantly comes from the survival of the fittest, the feeling of empathy, and the selfish desire to benefit your own kin.