When Lewis speaks of Subjectivism, he speaks of it in the moral sense. The idea is that there is no standard of morals that everyone is held accountable to. Morality is different for different people, and there is no absolute moral law. This idea, Lewis argues, is dead wrong.
Here I will explain what I think is the main problem with subjectivism. When we hold subjective morality, we cannot see things from another's point of view. Our truth becomes The truth. When this becomes problematic is when people commit evil acts thinking they are doing what is right. Hitler, who is generally called the most evil man in history, probably believed he was doing the right thing by exterminating the Jews, conquering the neighboring countries, and so on. He believed it was important for the survival of the Aryan race, and it would make the world a better, stronger place. I seriously doubt he woke up every morning thinking "Wow, I'm evil." Hitler most likely didn't kill for the sake of killing, but because in his misguided morality he probably believed that killing was in fact moral. In reality, evil often thinks it is good, and may even have some good results, just as the best lie is mostly truth and the best liar is the one who truly believes in the lie.
Really the only reliable way of combating this is to discard the idea of subjectivism and embrace the moral standards we all more or less employ anyway. As Lewis brilliantly pointed out, everyone obeys the moral laws, it is just that sometimes certain moral laws are too highly valued in regards to others. In the case of Hitler, perhaps self-preservation, ethnic pride and patriotism was simply too highly valued in comparison to the moral law that says we should not kill. It is finding the proper balance of moral law that really becomes valuable.
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You fleshed out subjectivism quite well. I think subjectivism is potentially damaging in that it allows us not to care about other's opinions. It seems that if we assume no objective reality, we can easily dismiss other's reality as unimportant, only for themselves.
ReplyDeleteI think you are right in that we need to take moral standards seriously. How great would that be if everyone did that. Also, I like how you wrapped it up and reminded us that a balance is necessary.
ReplyDeleteYou are very right. We tend to get carried away with certain facets of the moral law, in the end causing damage by ignoring another part of moral law. Its often times do to self-deception - believing something is more important at all costs.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you talked about the Nazis and Hitler throughout your blog. I also mentioned them in mine, and I agree that Hitler and fascism twisted the minds of almost everyone living in Germany. He made it seem right and just to terrorize Jews, because they were the cause of all their problems. This is why C.S. Lewis believes subjectivism is so very dangerous.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on how people, like Hitler, can be so misguided that they do things that are obviously wrong without realizing how bad they are. However, I think that people also intentionally bend their morals to allow themselves to do things that are beneficial or convenient to themselves. For example, I think that people are more willing to allow questionable things like stem cell research and extramarital sex because they have a reason to desire those things.
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