Book Reviews

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Colin Bernreuter
Menuge
Philosophy 343
Materialism in The Chronicles of Narnia
"If you are really a product of a materialistic universe, how is it that you don't feel at home there?" (Lewis, A Severe Mercy) While it is not directly written in the Chronicles of Narnia, this exemplifies the problem C.S. Lewis had with materialism. If we were made for a world where there was nothing but physical things, then why do we have a longing to be somewhere else, somewhere higher? It is this central idea that Lewis weaves masterfully throughout his children’s series. Materialism is a self-refuting claim that cannot answer questions most humans have.
Materialism can first be traced back to ancient times in the philosophy of Epicurus and Democritus around 800-200B.C. It then spread to Asia during the early 1st century A.D. Science and learning lost its luster during the Dark Ages in Europe, so much of it was lost. Then came the Enlightenment thinkers like Diderot and d’Holbach. It then evolved into what we see today, a more scientific materialism known as Scientism or Physicalism. Among the modern philosophers…Dawkins, Sartre and Dennett are major figures.
The first example of Materialism in The Chronicles we see is in the Magician’s Nephew. Uncle Andrew, a scientist/magician, is a through and through Naturalist. He believes everything can be accomplished by science. He creates rings that transport anything to the Wood Between the Worlds. Eventually, through a series of unfortunate events, Andrew, Digory, Polly, Jadis, Frank the Cabby, and his horse arrive in what will become Narnia. Aslan appears and begins to sing Narnia into being. Everyone can hear the song Aslan is singing, except Andrew. Jadis understands the music, but she finds it horrible. Andrew is completely deaf to the beauty happening in front of them as Frank is quick to point out. "Oh stow it, Guv'nor, do stow it," said the Cabby. "Watchin' and listenin's the thing at present; not talking." (MN, Ch. 9) All Andrew can think about is the usefulness and wealth potential of this new land that creates things simply by being there. He is not blind to what is going on, he can see it all happening in front of him. Andrew simply can’t wrap his head around anything that he cannot control. He has closed his mind to anything that isn’t scientifically possible.
In The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, we see at the beginning a group of children whose truncated logic dismisses the transcendent similar to Uncle Andrew’s. Susan and Peter can only see a wardrobe with a back on it, with physical limitations. Their professor first introduces the children to the transcendent by basically telling them that Lucy has really found a new world in the wardrobe. He tests their logic in their decision to not believe Lucy. He says, "Logic! Why don’t they teach logic at these schools? There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesn’t tell lies and it is obvious that she is not mad. For the moment then and unless any further evidence turns up, we must assume that she is telling the truth.” (LWW, Ch. 5) 2 Corinthians 5:7 says that we live by faith, not by sight. Lucy, the youngest child, is the first to reach Narnia. All she could she was a wardrobe, but she couldn’t see the back of it.
In Prince Caspian, the usurping king of Telmar, Miraz instituted a revisionist history of Narnia. He basically does all he can to erase Narnia from memory. When Caspian firsts asks him about Narnia, Miraz retorts "You're getting too old for that sort of stuff. At your age you ought to be thinking of battles and adventures, not fairy tales." (PC, Ch. 4) The ironic thing is that most fairy tales, at least the good ones, have battle and adventures. He goes on to scold Caspian, "And never let me catch you talking—or thinking either—about all those silly stories again." (PC, Ch. 4) This is the first instance we see secular education and the power it can have on a society. His version of history has no Narnia, no Aslan, even no lions. It goes to show how far some materialists will go to dismiss anything related to Theism, even the existence of lions. Prince Caspian’s tutor Doctor Cornelius on the other hand, is a traditional man. He teaches using the trivium and quadrivium. The trivium consists of Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric. The quadrivium consists of geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and music. In contrast to Miraz’ education, Cornelius’ was useful. It taught critical thinking, imagination, and most importantly, the openness to the transcendent. He also explains the reason why Telmarine lords resist the evidence of Aslan. "Your Kings are in deadly fear of the sea because they can never quite forget that in all stories Aslan comes from over the sea." (PC, Ch. 4) That really is the problem when it comes to belief. Atheists usually don’t find any problem with the logic and reasoning it takes to argue for God. It is their fear of a judge, someone watching everything they do, someone who has greater authority than them and that they will have to answer to.
Materialism, Naturalism, Scientism; they all operate under basically the same ideology. There is nothing outside of Nature. What we can perceive with our senses or experiment on is all there is. Scientists who operate under these “isms” follow the scientific method, relying on a natural causes and phenomena to further their theories. This reductionist process is good in the context of conducting experiments and doing lab work. Breaking things down into physical and measurable objects makes it easier to understand. There is a system or design in these things, that’s why we can break them down into simpler things. If there was no design, it would be random and extremely difficult to extrapolate any information.
This reductionism is evident in The Silver Chair. The Green Witch after appearing to the children, Rilian, and Puddleglum, attempts to brainwash them into thinking there is no Narnia, no Sun, and even that Aslan doesn’t exist. Every example the children give them, the Witch retorts with a reductionist response. When given the example of the Sun she responds, "You see? When you try to think out clearly what this sun must be, you cannot tell me. You can only tell me it is like the lamp. Your sun is a dream; and there is nothing in that dream that was not copied from the lamp. The lamp is the real thing; the sun is but a tale, a children's story"(SC, Ch. 12)
She attempts to delude the children into thinking that higher things come from lower things. That our idea of a lamp was glorified and we turned it into a bigger and more powerful light, the Sun. When they tell her of Aslan, all she can respond with is, "There is no Narnia, no Overworld, no sky, no sun, no Aslan. And now, to bed all. And let us begin a wiser life tomorrow. But first, to bed; to sleep; deep sleep, soft pillows, sleep without foolish dreams." (SC, Ch. 12) When given the example of Narnia itself, the Green Witch calmly replied, "Narnia? I have often heard your Lordship utter that name in your ravings. Dear Prince, you are very sick. There is no land called Narnia” (SC, Ch. 12)
She is operating under a severely faulty reductionist view. Higher things cannot come from lower things. How can lower (imperfect) things by adding themselves together become higher (transcendent) things? It is impossible. All we would get is a bigger or more numerous accumulations of lower things. Just as in math, two unreal numbers added together will not get you a real number, but another unreal number. There is however the possibility of higher things branching out and producing lower things. The higher things have everything that the lower things need to be lower. The lower things don’t have the necessary elements to become higher. That requires insight. Reductionism refutes itself because it dismisses human reason as anything but a merely chemical reaction in the brain, but that’s not what it is at all. Human reasoning stems from Divine Reasoning.
Lewis coined a clever phrase used to describe the reductionism he despised. “Nothing-buttery” is a way of looking at the world that takes away God, wonder, spirituality, and miracles.  Only a natural and scientific way of seeing the world is good.  Another commonly used term would be “greedy reductionism”.  For example:
Look at the stars.  What do you see?  (Here are 4 possible answers.)  1. Balls of burning gas?   2. Beautiful points of light?  3. Guides for navigation?  4. Something that God created?  Can more than one be true?  If so, which ones can be true at the same time? The philosophy of “nothing-buttery” would say the stars are NOTHING BUT balls of burning gas.
In addition, Ramandu from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader gives the readers another great example of the exceedingly simplistic view of reductionism. “In our world,” said Eustace, “a star is a huge ball of flaming gas.” “Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is but only what it is made of” (VDT, Ch. 14). There is more to what a person is than the anatomical or chemical.
The things that make a person a person are deeper, more rational things. Reason, virtue, and desire can be claimed to be those rational things. Without one of them, we cease to be “human” and become something totally different, as in the case of the almost deservedly named Eustace Clarence Scrubb. He certainly has reason. He certainly has desires. The problem is he doesn’t have the middle, virtue. Virtue regulates reason and desires, much like the checks and balances system of our government. When reason begins to take over, virtue steps in and reminds us that there are things we don’t know. When desires take over, virtue again steps in and shows us what desires are appropriate at what times.
Scrubb is a man without a chest, and it all comes back to his secular and progressive education in which “he had read all the wrong books. They had a lot to say about exports and imports and governments and drains, but they were weak on dragons.” Instead, his preferred books were “books of information and had pictures of grain elevators or of fat foreign children doing exercises in model schools” (VDT, Ch. 1) As a result of his education, he doesn’t have morals, or at least the right ones. His mind produces dragonish thoughts which transform him, literally into a dragon.
The society Eustace lived in, I believe, is at fault with what Lewis called chronological snobbery. Frankly, modern society is becoming more and more at fault with chronological snobbery. It is a fallacy that dismisses any idea as faulty that comes from a time period where other ideas became faulty due to new knowledge. It is argued that A. A is an old argument, dating back to the times when people also believed B. B is clearly false. Therefore, A is false. Unfortunately, many people commit this fallacy even today. Many medieval philosophers believed there to be a Creator. They also however believed the world was flat. We now know that the world is flat, they were wrong. So, naturally everything else they believed was wrong too. Incorrect.
Scrubb is the product of the truncated logic of Materialism. Progress and equality was all the rage evidenced by Scrubb’s refusal to acknowledge his parents as Mom or Dad, but instead calling them by their first names. There is no authority, everyone is equal. The lack of responsibility is frightening. At the expense of vocation, Scrubb’s world emphasized progress and equality. Throughout the early half of the book, he lived up (or down) to his name in every aspect of the voyage. He dismissed the chivalry of Caspian and Edmund as the “lowering of girls”. He also disregarded the courage and honor of Reepicheep as him “giving cheek” (VDT, Ch. 2).
The Last Battle is perhaps the most dramatic display of the weaknesses of materialism in the whole series. The dwarves are taken in by the ape Shift and the imposter Aslan. Once the identity of the the donkey was revealed, the dwarves become the most stubborn and unbelieving group of people in the book. When the stable door is opened, all enter, but not everyone is able to see what is really there. The dwarves refusing to be taken in would rather not risk being wrong again than to find the truth. What they see in the stable is everything they expect to see. They see what people usually see in a stable: hay, straw, and tools. However, that’s not what was really there. All the believers in the real Aslan see Aslan’s country. That is the real thing within the stable door. The dwarves are almost exactly the same as Uncle Andrew in the first book. They refuse to believe in Aslan because they don’t want to be wrong. Remembering Pascal’s wager, there is nothing for them to lose.
In our society, Christianity is still under attack from many things, one being materialistic world-views. People do everything in their power to suppress God and his servants work, similar to Miraz. “Philosophers” like Richard Dawkins have become poster-boys for Romans 1. The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:18-20)
Materialism destroys human reasoning. If all human thoughts are irrational by-products of chemical reactions, than how can anyone be certain that their beliefs or anything for that matter is correct? They cannot. Materialism is ultimately an argument that all arguments are invalid, and the philosophy is therefore self-defeating.
“If the solar system was brought about by an accidental collision, then the appearance of organic life on this planet was also an accident, and the whole evolution of Man was an accident too. If so, then all our present thoughts are mere accidents—the accidental by-product of the movement of atoms. And this holds for the thoughts of the materialists and astronomers as well as for anyone else’s. But if their thoughts—i.e. of materialism and astronomy—are merely accidental by-products, why should we believe them to be true? I see no reason for believing that one accident should be able to give me a correct account of all the other accidents. It’s like expecting that the accidental shape taken by the splash when you upset a milkjug should give you a correct account of how the jug was made and why it was upset.” (C.S. Lewis, The Business of Heaven)


REFERENCES
Lewis, C.S.. A Severe Mercy. Comp. Sheldon Vanauken. NewYork: HarperCollins, 23 1950. Print.
Lewis, C.S. The Business of Heaven. San Diego: Harcourt Inc., 1984. Print.
Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia. New York: HarperCollins, 2001. Print.
New International Version Bible. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005. Print

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