Men without Chests
What is C.S. Lewis' main concern with the children's textbook he calls the "Green Book"?
It teaches that all descriptions of things are only subjective. (It says we merely project our feelings when we describe something.)
What does "the Innovator" represent?
Those who reject objective truth/morality.
They search for a new basis for a system of values.
What does the "Conquest of Nature" refer to?
Human progress in scientific and technological knowledge.
What analogy does Lewis use for the three parts of man's nature (soul) and what does each part of the analogy represent?
Head = Reason/intellect
Chest = Will/Spirit
Stomach = Desires/appetite
What does the "Tao" represent?
Universal truth/natural law
What is the danger Lewis talks about regarding the use of technology to control nature?
Technology will be used to control people as well
What is the ideal orientation of the three parts of mans nature?
Reason (the head) should govern our desires (the stomach) through our will (the chest).
How does Lewis argue that even the Innovator needs the Tao?
Even the Innovator's philosophy is based on first principles of reasoning that must be taken as universally true (axioms)
Who are the "Conditioners"?
Those who want to use technology to control others and bend society to their will.
What did Lewis mean by the phrase "Men without Chests"?
If we reject objective truth and morality, then there's no purpose or meaning in life and we'll lose our will (chest in the analogy) to do anything.
Lewis references the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche as a challenge to the Tao. What did Nietzsche believe on this topic of morality?
He believed man must overcome himself and forge his own destiny and morality to become the “overman” (ubermensch)
According to Lewis, how will man’s conquest of nature lead to nature conquering man?
When we understand (conquer) things we reduce them to mere nature, so once we understand (conquer) everything, everything will be considered "nature".
(Ex: Think about how humans used to consider rain to have a supernatural cause such as "the gods")