Day 8 - The Poison of Subjectivism

According to Webster's New World Dictionary, Subjectivism(n.) means "an ethical theory holding that personal attitudes and feelings are the sole determinants of moral and aesthetic values." Postmodern society, C.S Lewis states, is a prominent example of a society blinded by subjectivism. In Mere Christianity, C.S Lewis introduces the universal "Moral Law", which he continues to support in his article "The Poison of Subjectivism". So why is it that postmodern society disagrees with the moral law through subjectivism? C.S Lewis stated that subjectivism started in mankind when "man began to study himself after the environment". Soon after, he states, "his own reason has become the object".

So now that this subjective view has permeated into society through generations and generations, C.S Lewis states that postmodern society has come up with two major lines of defense:

1)Traditional morality is different in different times and places.
2)To tie ourselves to an immutable moral code is to cut off all progress and acquiesce in stagnation.

Using the Socratic method, C.S Lewis open argues against each line of defense, continuing to support the Moral Law.

C.S Lewis' first argument against the first defense goes something like this:

"Wherever it is simply false and should be contradicted in season and out of season wherever it is met." He points out that universally accepted values might not show through. However, we find exactly what we should expect if good is indeed something objective.

His second argument against the second defense goes as follows:

"Does a permanent moral standard preclude progress? On the contrary, except on the supposition of a changeless standard, progress is impossible." By progress is impossible, I believe C.S Lewis is trying to state that our ideas of the "good might change, but they cannot change for the worse if there is no absolute and immutable good to which they can recede." Take ideologies for an example. Communism is a mere innovation of a traditional morality- distorted and adjusted so that it could fit into the ideology.

With the criticism of these two defenses, C.S Lewis stands by his belief that there IS indeed a moral law which cannot be deserted for 'mere innovation'. I believe that this stance is important for us, because as all common creations of God, we all share a universal value or law which takes into account every single one of us - whether or not we can see it in our own culture and time period.