Mere Christianity: The Three Parts of Morality (B3C1)
Chapter Summary, Key Quotes, and Outline
Here we go! I am so excited to get back to Mere Christianity. THCSL Reading Group discussed Book 1 & Book 2 in the early 2024. In the interim we discussed several Lewis and Chesterton essays, and capped off 2024 with Perelandra.
Here in Book 3 of Mere Christianity we will encounter several themes (e.g. heavenly and hellish creatures) that make an appearance in other works by Lewis. As I’ve stated previously, one of the fun things about reading Lewis is seeing his themes consistently throughout his writing.
Here’s our session materials for Book 3 Chapter 1.
Summary
Jack describes three ideas about morality using his famous ship fleet analogy. First, a fleet of ships must operate so they do not collide with one another (rules about fair play and harmony between people). Next, Jack says each person must tidy up and maintain his own ship so that it stays in good working order. This will also minimize collisions with other ships. While these two considerations are important, both are useless if there is not a destination in mind. Jack says that society tends to focus on the first part (rules and fair play) but ignores the second one (as long as I’m not hurting anyone I can do what I want). How can we want to avoid damaging others’ ships but have no problem damaging our own ships? Last if we consider that God made us for a specific purpose, we cannot rely just on society and laws to make us good.
Quotes
“You cannot make men good by law: and without good men you cannot have a good society.”
“But there is nothing very fine about trying to be quite accurate at each step in each sum. It would be idiotic not to try; for every mistake is going to cause you trouble later on.”
Outline
Moral Rules vs Ideals
Moral rules are directions for running the human machine
Moral rules prevent breakdown, strain, or friction
Some people see moral rules as God interfering and preventing enjoyment
Seeking moral perfection as an ideal can be misleading
Ideals have more to do with taste and preference (house, job, woman, etc) - dangerous to describe man who tries to keep moral law as man of high ideals (might lead others to think moral law was a matter of private taste)
Aspiring to high ideals is good but it does not make a man moral. If one really tries to do math correctly but he gets the problem wrong it would be silly to congratulate him for trying to do it correctly.
Nothing special about trying to do math right (it would be idiotic not to try); every mistake will get you further from the correct answer; just like every moral failure
How the Human Machine Goes Wrong
Two ways humans go wrong: when humans drift apart and collide (cheating, bullying, etc), and when something is wrong inside humans
Jack’s famous example of fleet of ships
Voyage will be successful if ships don’t collide with one another, and if each ship is in good working order
Band example: to get good music, the instruments must be in tune and must come in at right moment
But there is a third element: what is the final destination of the ships and what piece of music is the band playing?
Three Parts of Morality
Morality concerned with 3 things: fair play and harmony between people, tidying up things inside each person, and general purpose of human life (what we were made for)
People tend to think of the first but forget the other two
People are not concerned with state of their own ships; more concerned about not running into others (very modern idea)
Jack says people generally agree about the first thing but not the second or third
Pointless to just do the first thing
Legislating fairness and good behavior is not enough. You can’t legislate or make men good by law
Back to religion: it’s claims are either true or false; different conclusions will therefore follow
How can a man want to avoid damaging other peoples ships but think it’s okay to do what he wants with his own?
What if someone else made man for his own purposes?
If we are going to live forever then we must focus on the second thing
Biggest differences between Christians and non-Christians in the third thing
Jack says from here he will look only at Christian point of view and assume it is true