Mere Christianityintermediate
In *Mere Christianity*, C. S. Lewis argues that moral rules are unique because they tell us what human beings _____ do, rather than describing what they actually do.
Answer
ought to
Explanation
### Why this is right
The Moral Law is normative: it states what people should do, rather than reporting their actual behaviour. Lewis’s point depends on the gap between obligation and practice.
### The concept
A rule about what people ought to do can remain binding even when they disobey it. This differs from a physical regularity, which describes what happens. For Lewis, the fact that people make excuses for wrongdoing also suggests that they recognize a standard they have failed to meet.
### Terms
- **Normative**: Concerned with what should be done or what standard should be followed.
### Remember
The Moral Law concerns obligation, not a prediction of behaviour.
Related Questions
- In Lewis’s piano analogy, what corresponds to the Moral Law?(intermediate)
- Explain how Lewis responds to the objection that moral rules are merely social conventions.(intermediate)
- Reconstruct Lewis’s inference from the Moral Law to a power behind the universe, and identify one limit he places on that inference.(intermediate)
- In Lewis’s account, what makes free will valuable despite making evil possible?(intermediate)
- Lewis argues that the Moral Law is simply a description of what human beings usually do.(intermediate)
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