C.S. Lewis and the Human Law of Nature

Author C.S. Lewis made some very compelling arguments for the existence of a law of human nature or a moral law which is the law of decent behavior. The law exists for all people regardless of their religious beliefs or lack of them.

There are two types of natural laws - the kind of laws we have no choice to obey like the laws of gravity and aging and the kind of laws where we can choose whether or not to obey them. The law of human nature or moral law is the latter.


Selfishness is an example that goes against the moral law. Think of people you know who are selfish. Do you admire them? Do others admire them? My guess is that you can think of people who are selfish, but you cannot think of anyone who admires them for their selfishness. They may have other qualities that can be admired, but their selfishness is never admired.

According to Lewis, if anyone argues that there really is no such thing as a moral law, they will soon disprove their own theory. They may break a promise to you and justify their actions based on their belief that there is no moral law, but as soon as you break a promise to them, they will cry that it is unfair. Unfair based on what?

Moral laws are truths that we have no ability to change. We can only choose to obey or disobey, but we cannot change them.

Nobody ever obeys these laws completely. There are always excuses available for why we did not obey. Lewis says, "I do not succeed in keeping the law of Nature very well, and the moment anyone tells me I am not keeping it, there starts up in my mind a string of excuses as long as your arm."

The fact that we make excuses is proof that we believe very strongly in these laws.

"The truth is, we believe in decency so much - we feel the Rule of law pressing on us so - that we cannot bear to face the fact that we are breaking it, and consequently we try to shift the responsibility."

I find it interesting that we only make excuses for our bad behavior but not for our good behavior.