If you are looking for the introduction to this book study you can click HERE. Each part of the study guide will be linked to the bottom of the original introduction as they become available so that you may more easily find whichever part you are ready for. Still need to buy the book? You can get it HERE!
Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)
What does Lewis say “The Innovator” will think he has found “in Instinct”? (pg. 32-33)
What, according to the Innovator, is man’s “instinctive urge”? (pg. 33)
What can be “properly swept away” if instinct is all there really is? (pg. 33)
What definition of “instinct” does Lewis offer for how the Innovator would be using the term? (pf. 34)
What cannot be derived from a “statement about psychological fact” according to Lewis? (pg. 35)
What does “even the Innovator” admit about many impulses? (pg. 35)
What is the more “fundamental difficulty” Lewis raises? (pg. 35-36)
What does Lewis say “cannot itself be instinctive”? (pg. 36)
What does Lewis say he does not “find easy to believe”? (pg. 37)
What does Lewis say “dies out in the ‘deserts of vast futurity’”? (pg. 38)
What is “not open to those who treat instinct as the source of value”? (pg. 38)
What truth does Lewis say “finally becomes apparent”? (pg. 39)
Logic Questions: (Interpreting, Comparing/Contrasting, Reasoning)
How does a system of ethics based upon instinct “give the Innovator all he wants and nothing that he does not want”? (pg. 33)
Why does there seem to be a conflict between the Innovator’s idea of instinct and the writing of books like The Green Book? (pg. 34)
Why is an “infinite regress of instincts” a problem? (pg. 35)
Why does Lewis think instinct alone is insufficient for determining which instincts we should obey? (pg. 36-37)
Lewis describes the Innovator’s problem in the form of Constructive Dilemma on page 37. Symbolize the argument and check it for validity using a shorter truth table.
Lewis writes, “It is difficult to assign to instinct our attitude towards an object which exists only for reflective men.” (pg. 38) What does he mean by this?
Why does Lewis think it is “absurd…to claim that your care for posterity finds its justification in instinct”? (pg. 39)
Lewis quotes the famous Roman playwright, Terence, who said “Humani nihil a me alienum puto” or “Nothing human is foreign to me.” What is his point in quoting this along with the other surrounding quotations? (pg. 39)
Why does Lewis think it is a false dichotomy to contrast “‘real’ or ‘rational’ value” with “sentimental value”? (pg. 40)
Rhetoric Questions: (The Analysis of Ideas in the Text)
How should we think about instincts from a Christian perspective? What role do they play in our life? Are instincts generally helpful or harmful to our ethical decision making process?
Lewis asks, “is it maintained that if we do obey Instinct we shall be happy and satisfied”? (pg. 34) Do you think that obeying our instincts and impulses leads to happiness? Why or why not?
A word frequently employed throughout this book is “ought”. Reflect for a moment on that word and what role it plays in any given sentence. Do you think that word can be properly used in a world where there is no God? Why or why not?
Do you think there is a good and meaningful response to the dilemma C. S. Lewis posed to the Innovator on page 37? If so, what is it? If not, why not?
Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)
Jude verse 10 says “But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.” Look at the larger context of this verse (the whole of Jude is only 24 verses) and answer this question: How does Jude compare and contrast human instinct with reason? What should we learn from this?
Virtues/Vices/Great Ideas: (Find them in the Text)
Happiness, Instinct