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C. S. Lewis on the Objectivity of Value

C. S. Lewis on the Objectivity of Value. I. What is the Tao? II. Critique of the Subjective Theory of Value III. Implications of the Subjective/Objective Issue for Education IV. Critique of Ethical Innovation. I. What is the Tao?. Associated with the idea of objective values.

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C. S. Lewis on the Objectivity of Value

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  1. C. S. Lewis on the Objectivity of Value I. What is the Tao? II. Critique of the Subjective Theory of Value III. Implications of the Subjective/Objective Issue for Education IV. Critique of Ethical Innovation

  2. I. What is the Tao? • Associated with the idea of objective values. • Sentiments, affections, value judgments can be true/false, correct/incorrect, correspond or fail to correspond with reality. • No fact/value distinction. There are evaluative facts.

  3. Lewis’s Examples • The waterfall is sublime/pretty. • It is sweet/bitter to die for one's country.

  4. 4 senses of "the Tao" in AM: 1. The cosmic, metaphysical basis of all objective value. 2.Human nature, as having a final cause, built-in purpose. This purpose involves in some way imitating or reflecting the Tao in sense 1. 3. Our present state of knowledge or opinion of the Tao (in 1 & 2); or the belief in the reality of the Tao (in 1 & 2).

  5. 4. The progressive development or growth of our knowledge of the Tao (in 1 & 2); the dynamic unfolding of the truth about the Tao in human consciousness through history.

  6. Unanswered question • This raises the question: is it necessary to accept the reality of the Tao in sense 1? • Would it be sufficient to accept the Tao in sense 2 only, positing objective but anthropocentric values?

  7. II. Lewis's Critique of Subjectivism • Lewis's target in chapter 1: the emotive theory of value. • “Values are merely projections of our feelings upon external things.” • Contrasting objective view: attitudes and sentiments can be just, appropriate, fitting, ordinate to their objects, or fail to be so.

  8. The Tao as Objective Value • There are qualities that demand certain responses from us, given the kind of thing we are. • Implication: our own human essence is fulfilled only when we adopt these objectively demanded attitudes toward their respective objects.

  9. The Tao as Reason • Lewis also describes emotions as being in accordance, or in conflict, with Reason. • Emotions can be rational or irrational, just as beliefs can be.

  10. Lewis’s Main Argument • subjectivism: cannot explain the phenomenon of disagreements over value judgments. • "That is pretty." "No, it is not." • "I feel sick." "No, I feel quite well." • If value judgments are merely projections of one's feelings, what are we disagreeing about?

  11. “Men without Chests” • The subjectivists that Lewis considers (represented by "Gaius and Titius") believe that we should learn to see through appeals to emotion that masquerade as appeals to objective fact. • Propaganda will then lose its power.

  12. Lewis argues that this approach will produce "men without chests": humans with overdeveloped intellects and powerful appetites/drives, but no strong passions, sentiments. • It is impossible to achieve moral virtue under such conditions. The intellect requires well-trained sentiments as its ally.

  13. Combating Propaganda • “The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts.” • “The right defense against false sentiments is to inculcate just sentiments.” • “By starving the sensibility of our pupils, we only make them easier prey to the propagandist when he comes.” (p. 24)

  14. Consequences of Neglecting the Education of the Sentiments • “And all the time - such is the tragicomedy of our situation - we continue to clamour for those very qualities we are rendering impossible.” • “We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.” (p. 35)

  15. III. Implications for Education • On the objectivist view, education is a matter of initiation. • Analogy: adult bird teaching the young bird to fly. • Helping the young to develop into the form of common human nature. A process of humanization.

  16. On the Subjectivist View • On the subjectivist view, education is a matter of conditioning. • Analogy: poultry keeper training the young bird to be manageable for the sake of productivity. • Distinction: propagation and propaganda.

  17. The Acid Test • Crucial case: teaching the child to be willing to sacrifice himself/herself for the sake of the community. • Is this a matter of shared submission to an objective order of value, or a matter of exploiting the child to serve the values of others?

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