"Despair of objective truth had been increasingly insinuated into the scientists; indifference to it, and a concentration upon mere power, had been the result....[t]he very experiences of the dissecting room and the pathological laboratory were breeding a conviction that the stifling of all deep-set repugnances was the first essential for progress.....
"What should they find incredible, since they believed no longer in a rational universe? What should they regard as too obscene, since they held that all morality was a mere subjective by-product of the physical and economic situation of men?"
--from That Hideous Strength, by CS Lewis
Today after lunch Finn and I had a talk about this very topic. Well, he's eight, so there's that. But the idea that morality is subjective? He understands it, and he understands its flaws. I'm finding that children's reactions to scenarios are often spot-on; as observers of the natural world and human beings they seem to have an unadulterated sense of what's true and right. In other words, they still maintain their deep-set repugnances.
It's the adults who have rationalized our way into all sorts of odd corners who have the problematic perspectives.....and that's where my thoughts have centered as I've folded laundry and scrubbed the bathtub and cleaned the windows and vacuumed today. Housewifery is, in fact, an excellent vocation for the student of philosophy......
Oh Polly, what an innovatively literary way of stating a surprising truth "Housewifery is, in fact, an excellent vocation for the student of philosophy......"
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