AoM: The Way

1) "Knowledge cannot itself be instinctive: the judge cannot be one of the parties judged; or, if he is, the decision is worthless and there is no ground for placing the preservation of the species above self-preservation or sexual appetite" (Lewis 36).

2) "The Tao, and which others may call Natural Law or Traditional Morality or the First Principles of Practical Reason or the First Platitudes, is not one among a series of possible systems of value. It is the sole source of all value judgements" (43).

In this chapter, Lewis speaks of morality and value, specifically what is and what isn't. He's saying that Gaius and Titius, and any such Innovators, are tearing down sentiments in order to replace them with a set of values that they believe to be good or just. Lewis refutes this by saying that all value judgements stem from the Tao; it is the basis for all value. He uses the analogy of branches on a tree. If the branches rebelled against the tree, they would destroy themselves; it is the same for values. Every subjective value system in itself contains some objective aspect of the Tao, tearing it down would tear down the value system in question. Also, in regards to this, he addresses what value, moral, or instinct is better than another, or which one has precedence over the other. Much like he relayed in Mere Christianity, the instinct itself cannot be the thing to tell a person to obey it over another instinct; there is an objective law or way that shows us. All values stem from the Tao, and so trying to tear it down and replace it with a "better" system of value which we believe has more precedence over another is self-contradictory.