The Law of Human Nature

[DomSavio2]

I’m reading *Mere Christianity * by CS Lewis right now and it is quite honestly just great. However, I was talking about it and the Law of Human Nature to a friend of mine and he wasn’t sold on it. He said that the conscience is simply formed by our upbringing and isn’t actually an intrinsic property of humans. Rather, we believe something is right or something is wrong simply because we are brought up that way. For example, I was raised Catholic and as a result, I believe abortion is morally reprehensible. I don’t think it’s wrong because I have an innate sense of right and wrong but because I was told it’s wrong and believe what I was told. He said that he was making the “Nature vs. Nurture” distinction with the conscience really just being a result of nurture.

I tried to tell him that it is not that we are given a conscience by others but that it is shaped and formed by others. I also tried to explain to him how many times throughout history people have been brought up with, and trained to think that, a certain belief or habit is right but, for whatever reason, they spontaneously think it’s wrong. I had in mind someone like Martin Luther King Jr, who was told throughout his entire life that racism is just a way of life. Despite this, he vehemently opposes it.

Maybe I just did a terrible job of explaining it to him. Could you guys please help me to explain why the conscience is part of our very nature and is not given to us through nurture?

 

[ynotzap]

Con

I’m reading *Mere Christianity * by CS Lewis right now and it is quite honestly just great. However, I was talking about it and the Law of Human Nature to a friend of mine and he wasn’t sold on it. He said that the conscience is simply formed by our upbringing and isn’t actually an intrinsic property of humans. Rather, we believe something is right or something is wrong simply because we are brought up that way. For example, I was raised Catholic and as a result, I believe abortion is morally reprehensible. I don’t think it’s wrong because I have an innate sense of right and wrong but because I was told it’s wrong and believe what I was told. He said that he was making the “Nature vs. Nurture” distinction with the conscience really just being a result of nurture.

I tried to tell him that it is not that we are given a conscience by others but that it is shaped and formed by others. I also tried to explain to him how many times throughout history people have been brought up with, and trained to think that, a certain belief or habit is right but, for whatever reason, they spontaneously think it’s wrong. I had in mind someone like Martin Luther King Jr, who was told throughout his entire life that racism is just a way of life. Despite this, he vehemently opposes it.

Maybe I just did a terrible job of explaining it to him. Could you guys please help me to explain why the conscience is part of our very nature and is not given to us through nurture?

Conscience is non other then one’s informed intelligence. Our minds are informed with facts, laws of ethics, human behavior, from which we can deduce what is right and wrong in our moral conduct. We establish moral convictions that rule our behavior. For Christians we get these convictions for conduct from the Ten Commandments eg. With this knowledge we become informed. Anytime that we violate these convictions we know we have sinned, that still small voice inside of us is a constant reminder if we are being good or bad. A deeper understanding can be found in a moral principle for determining right from wrong. What ever is objectively conducive to the well-being of a human, is right, and good, whatever is not is wrong and bad. Rational Intelligence is part of our nature, and is what makes us different from animals, we are homo-sapiens, knowing -man.

 

[tonyrey]

Could you guys please help me to explain why the conscience is part of our very nature and is not given to us through nurture?

The most convincing evidence is that very young children understand injustice so readily and feel so strongly about it. Even though it’s an abstract concept they know exactly what it means and really suffer if they think they are being treated unfairly.