Study Questions for C. S. Lewis's 'The Basis of the Moral Law'

 1. What are the two odd things about human beings that Lewis mentions?

 2. How does Lewis characterize the difference between the 'laws of nature' and the 'Law of Human Nature'?

 3. What does Lewis mean when he talks about attempts to 'explain away' the difference between the notion of laws of nature and the notion of the law(s) of human nature?

 4. Explain the first attempt (that Lewis discusses) to 'explain away' the human inclination to talk about what people ought to do, and explain Lewis's objection(s) to this attempt.

 5. Explain the second attempt (that Lewis discusses) to 'explain away' the human inclination to talk about what people ought to do, and explain Lewis's objection(s) to this attempt.

 6. Lewis says, at one point, that the Moral Law, or Law of Human Nature, 'is not simply a fact about human behavior in the same way as the Law of Gravitation is, or may be, simply a fact about how heavy objects behave'. What else does Lewis go on to say about the Moral Law?

 7. What does Lewis say this Law of Human Nature 'tells us about the Universe we live in"?

8. On the final page of the essay (as it apears in the text), Lewis sumarizes the conclusion that he thinks he is entitled to. What is this conclusion, and what considerations has he drawn this conclusion from?

9. Explain what, in Lewis, you agree with and what you disagree with, and defend your view.