The Poison of Subjectivism

Lewis introduces the topic of Subjectivism by stating that "Until modern times, no thinker of the first rank ever doubted that our judgements of value were rational judgments or that what they discovered was objective...the modern view is very different. It does not believe that value judgments are really judgments at all." In present times, when we say that something is "good" it means that that is how we feel about that something, instead of a value judgment.

The logic and arguments that Lewis uses in this essay are an extension of those in the first four chapters of Mere Christianity. We as humanity have an objective standard of reality that is independent of us, otherwise we would have no valid way to measure good and evil. None of us can go outside of the traditional morality that has been created, not by us, but by God, who is independent of us. Because we as humans cannot create anything outside of what has been created for us, to try and find a different or better moral standard is an invalid attempt to go outside of our reality, and instead only elevates one sort of moral tradition over another - but all these morals exist within the traditional morality that is already in existence.

Lewis's logic amazes me. He takes a subject that I take for granted and completely turns it on its head. I really feel as though I can use his arguments to back up claims of God and objective morality to people who claim otherwise, and be taken seriously. I also like how he goes on to say that we can only move closer or farther away from an absolute and unchanging good only if it is absolute and unchanging, or as others say, stagnant. And that anyone who has rejected this cannot make any value judgment on it, because they now have no objective platform from which to judge.

What I find most interesting is his statement on how just because we as Humanity are fallen, that fact does not mean that we cannot see clearly what good is in the same way that we are unable to be fully good. This is exactly what Paul the Apostle says when he writes to his various congregations about the Jewish Law. The Law showed him how to sin and made him unable to fulfill it. The Law was impossible to keep. This is why Christ came, so that we are now under a new Law. A Law that demands faith instead of works for redemption, salvation, and life. Because even though that uncreated Good that comes from God and is God and exists outside of Humanity exists, it is unreachable except through our new Covenant with Christ. Amen and amen!