Lewis asks what is meant by the phrase "Man's conquest of nature." He presents three examples of "conquests": the aeroplane, the radio, and the contraceptive. In the cases of the aeroplane and the radio, man is as much the patient as the possessor. The contraceptive deceives man into thinking he has conquered nature, when in fact the result is men powering over other men using Nature as their instrument.
Tonya Aden, Sherilyn Seridahl, Kara Quinn, pg. 67-69
When considering man's conquest of nature, we must imagine humanity on a time line beginning with the man's arrival to and extending to man's extinction. We begin to lose our freedom to the the power given by man to machines. Each generation that travels down the time line becomes weaker as a subject to the decisions of predessors ("Each advance leaves him weaker as well as stonger, p.69). At the beginning we expect freedom from the conquest of nature, instead we are thrusted towards a pre-determined end (extinction).
Rachael Atkinson, Tim Olson, Ryan Carlson, pg. 69, 72
The final battle over nature is very mean. Arguement: This final battle, is in order to conquer Nature, is for man to conquer himself. The reason to conquer man is because there is nothing left to conquer. The final stage will come when we have educated, conditioned, and applied all knowledge to "finally take control of mankind." The steps in conquering mankind are: "The power will enormously increased," and manipulating values to better oneself rather than as a form of belief. The final victory will have been won after these stages are complete.
Nick Suiter, Brian Thompson, Alyssa Sommer, pg. 72-74
The "conditioners" will have no reason to preserve the Tao in humanity other than the Tao itself, which cannot be the reason because the Tao is what they are transcending. They need to find a paradigm according to which they will shape humanity.
Within C.S. Lewis's arguement, the "conditioners" cease to be man, and the "conditioned" become artifacts. The "conditioners" have have nothing to start from in regards to how they condition humanity, because they have thrown out the basis of all assumption.
Dan Opitz, Reed Schneider, Nick Sungaard, pg. 74-76
The arguement presented on pages 74-76 is centered around the conditioned and the conditioners. Those who are motivated by pleasure and operate off of impulses are the conditioners. The conditioned operate off the Natural Law or something similar to what is presented in this book as the Tao.
In this differing set of values between the conditioners and conditioned, the excerpt presents the possibility of the "conditioners hating the conditioned." The reason the conditioned would dislike the conditioners is simply because the conditioners obey nature, "weather, digestion, heredity", etc. The conditioned operating off of reason ultimately base their arguement against the conditioners on this point (vs. nature).
The end of the excerpt presents three options for people to fall into the conditions which operate off of impulse, the conditioned who act according to the Tao, and the cop outs who commit suicide. And interestingly asside from the conclusion we felt that the position held by the conditioned was presented as one of greater power as opposed to that held by the conditioners.
Lan Steiff, Steve Larson, Nathaniel Miller, pg. 76-79
Man is trying to control nature and yet nature is manipulationg our actions. With our advanced control over nature, we lose the essence of it. However, nature in reality is remaining a constant and it is really only us, who are losing the ability to truly see it for what it is. By conquering nature, we lose a lot more than we gain. We become desensitized to the true beauty of nature and as we gain more knowledge, they mean less and less to us. Men will destory themselves as Nature watches by reducing the human to an object.
Chris Richter, Krista Haskins, Dan Theis, pg. 79-80
In our history, in order to gain control of our world, we reduce anything in it to a catch-all phrase called nature. That is, things that are more fact and objective. They have no real significance. When we try to do this to our souls and the values that guide them, we no longer are significant. We are reduced to mere Nature ourselves. We have given up any power we have if we do this.
Jolynn Shopteese, Tasha Kazek, Abby Pratt, pg. 80-82
Lewis feels it is impossible to lay down our human prerogaitve and at the same time retain it. By this he means that no matter how scientific we are, it is impossible to transfer our spirit and soul. Lewis feels we need to choose between being a rational spirit or a machine which has no motive but only natural impulses.
The Tao provides a universal law which is a constant and should not be challenged. Through intelligence Gaius and Titius feel we should change our traditional values into fresh new ideas that better suit the modern age; however, Lewis disagrees with this theory. He maintains traditional values but is not a Luddite. In conclusion, Lewis feels we are gradually liquidating our convictions and beliefs. If we disregard the Tao we lose our individual self control.
Danielle Pellitter, Jason Shirkey, Rick Meyer, pg. 82-85
Science and magic were born of the same impulses; twins. Science is dangerous because it is trying to subdue to the wishes of men. We need to reach back to the wise men that were looking to solve the old cardinal problem; to conform the soul to reality not subdue to the wishes of men.
Eric Roberts, Matt Taylor, Josh Smith, pg. 85-87
Lewis talks about the new Natural Philosophy, where our instinct would increase as our consciences decreases. Instinct would conquer nature, decreasing the value of life. If scientists can't stop this process before it kills common reason, someone else must. Trying to explain this process means you will have explained explanation away, seeing through everything, making it trasparent. Lewis summarizes this by saying that, "To see 'through' all things is the same as not to see."
Questions may be sent to gossett@bethel.edu