Exhaustive Notes on Orthodoxy, Heretics, and The Abolition of Man

The Reversal of Orthodoxy and Heresy

  - In modern society, there is an extraordinary and silent evil indicated by the modern usage of the word "orthodox."   - Historical Perspective on Heresy:     - In former days, the heretic was proud of not being a heretic.     - He believed the kingdoms of the world, the police, and the judges were the ones who were heretical, while he was the one who was orthodox.     - He felt no pride in rebellion; rather, he felt the world had rebelled against him. The state, law, and armies were like sheep that had gone astray.     - Even in a "howling wilderness," the orthodox man felt like the center of the universe, with stars swinging around him.     - No torture could make him admit he was heretical because he was proud of being right.   - The Modern View of Heresy:     - Modern man boasts of heresy with a "conscious laugh" and looks for applause.     - The word "heresy" no longer means being wrong; it has come to mean being "clear-headed and courageous."     - The word "orthodoxy" no longer means being right; it has come to mean being wrong.     - This shift indicates that people care less about being "philosophically right."     - Chesterton argues that a man should confess himself "crazy" before he confesses himself "heretical."     - Even extreme figures like a "Bohemian with a red tie" or a "dynamiter laying a bomb" should pique themselves on their own orthodoxy—on being right in their view of the universe.

The Contempt for General Theories in the Twentieth Century

  - The Absurdity of Ignoring Philosophy:     - While burning a man for his philosophy (as in the Middle Ages) was foolish and failed, it is "infinitely more absurd and unpractical" to say that a man's philosophy does not matter.     - In the 20th century, general theories are universally contemned.     - The doctrine of the "Rights of Man" is dismissed alongside the "Fall of Man."     - Atheism is considered "too theological"; Revolution is seen as too much of a "system"; Liberty is seen as too much of a "restraint."   - The Refusal to Generalize:     - Mr. Bernard Shaw’s epigram summarizes the age: "The golden rule is that there is no golden rule."     - Society prefers to discuss details in art, politics, and literature (e.g., tramcars or Botticelli) rather than the universe.     - Chesterton observes: "Everything matters—except everything."   - The Case of Conversational Pessimism:     - A man at a tea-table may say, "Life is not worth living," and it is treated with the same levity as a comment on the weather.     - If this were actually believed, the world would be inverted:       - Murderers would receive medals for saving people from life.       - Firemen would be denounced for preventing death.       - Poisons would be used as medicines; doctors would be called when people are well.       - The Royal Humane Society would be rooted out as assassins.     - We do not speculate on the social impact of such theories because we are convinced that theories do not matter.

The Shift from Liberal Inquiry to Modern Indifference

  - Old Liberals vs. Moderns:     - Old Liberals removed gags from heresies because they believed "cosmic truth" was so important that everyone should bear testimony.     - Moderns maintain that cosmic truth is so unimportant that it doesn't matter what anyone says.     - The former freed inquiry like a "noble hound"; the latter frees it like a "fish unfit for eating."   - The Tyranny of "Good Taste":     - Good taste is described as "the last and vilest of human superstitions."     - Sixty years ago, it was bad taste to be an avowed atheist. Now, thanks to the "Bradlaughites" (the last religious men who cared about God), it is equally bad taste to be an avowed Christian.     - Modern liberty means "nobody is allowed to discuss" religion. Saint and heresiarch are locked in the same "tower of silence."

The Practicality of Philosophy in Real Life

  - Philosophy is the most practical and important thing about a person.   - Specific Examples of Philosophical Importance:     - For a landlady, a lodger's philosophy is more important than his income.     - For a general, an enemy's philosophy is more important than his numbers.   - The Ludicrousness of Modern Morality:     - In the 15th century, a man was tormented for preaching an immoral attitude.     - In the 19th century, Oscar Wilde was feted for preaching an immoral attitude and then broken in penal servitude for carrying it out.     - The Inquisition was at least not guilty of making an idol of a man for preaching what they then convicted him for practicing.

The Extrusion of Ideals from Literature and Politics

  - Philosophy and religion have been driven out of two main fields:     - Literature: Driven out by the cry of "art for art's sake."     - Politics: Driven out by the cry of "efficiency," which Chesterton translates as "politics for politics' sake."   - The Results of Discarding the Moralist and Philosopher:     - Literature has become less political; politics has become less literary.     - Discussions of order and liberty have dwindled.     - Chesterton argues that only when a people is growing weak do they talk about "efficiency."     - "Vigorous organisms talk not about their processes, but about their aims."     - Examples of End-Oriented Thinking:       - Hildebrand: Worked for the Catholic Church, not efficiency.       - Danton: Worked for liberty, equality, and fraternity, not efficiency.       - These men focused on the "beautiful vision" of the end (like a man lying flat at the foot of the stairs) rather than the process (how to elevate the leg efficiently).

The Rise of Mediocrity and the Failure of "Free" Art

  - Repudiating "big words and big visions" has produced a race of "small men."   - In politics, despite the license of Caesar or the Superman, the result is a mediocrity as Chancellor of the Exchequer.   - In art, despite the call for moral license, the result is a mediocrity as Poet Laureate.   - The Comparison of Modern Freedom vs. Ancient Bondage:     - Modern artistic classes are free to write anything (e.g., a Paradise Lost where Satan wins).     - Yet, they produce only "a few roundels," whereas the "fierce Ghibelline Catholic" (Dante) and the "rigid Puritan schoolmaster" (Milton) produced something grander.     - Milton beats the moderns even at kanilang sariling irrelevance; Satan's defiance in Paradise Lost is finer than any modern blasphemy.     - The Nature of Blasphemy: Blasphemy is an artistic effect that depends on philosophical conviction. It depends on belief and fades as belief vanishes. (Example: It is impossible to think blasphemous thoughts about Thor because no one believes in him).

The Unpracticality of Practicality and Opportunism

  - The "ideal of practicality" is the most misleading ideal of all.   - Lord Rosebery: A symbol of the epoch—the man who is theoretically practical but practically unpractical.   - Worship of "worldly wisdom" is unwise; the man perpetually checking which cause is "promising" will never believe in anything long enough for it to succeed.   - The Failure of Success: Nothing fails like success. Opportunism is weak for working purposes because it attaches too much importance to immediate victory.   - Comparison with History: Men who fought over the "orthodoxy of the Homoousion" were more sensible than those quarreling over the "Education Act."     - The former tried to define what was "really holy"; the latter seek religious liberty without defining religion or liberty.

Fundamentals and the Parable of the Lamp-post

  - Chesterton proposes a return tofundamentals and the doctrinal methods of the 13th century.   - He views his contemporaries (Kipling, Shaw) in relation to the "real body of doctrine" they teach. He calls Shaw a "Heretic" because his philosophy is "solid, coherent, and quite wrong."   - The Parable of the Lamp-post:     - A mob wants to pull down a lamp-post. A monk (the spirit of the Middle Ages) tries to discuss the "value of Light."     - The mob knocks him down and pulls the post down, congratulating themselves on being "unmediaevally practical."     - Soon, conflict arises because they all had different reasons for pulling it down (getting electric light, wanting old iron, wanting darkness for evil deeds).     - Eventually, they realize the monk was right: everything depends on the "philosophy of Light," but now they must discuss it in the dark.

The Suicide of Thought: Virtues Gone Mad

  - The modern world is not evil; it is "full of wild and wasted virtues."   - When a religious scheme like Christianity is shattered, both vices and virtues are let loose.   - Isolated virtues do more damage than vices because they "wander more wildly."   - Examples of Dislocated Virtues:     - The Scientist: Cares for truth, but his truth is pitiless.     - The Humanitarian: Cares for pity, but his pity is untruthful.     - Mr. Blatchford: Attacks Christianity due to a "mad" version of Christian charity, believing he makes it easier to forgive sins by saying there are no sins to forgive.     - Zola vs. Torquemada: Torquemada tortured people physically for moral truth; Zola tortured people morally for physical truth.

The Dislocation of Humility

  - Humility was originally meant as a restraint on human arrogance and appetite, ensuring that a man could enjoy things by making himself "small."   - The "gigantesque imagination" (towers, giants) is a product of humility, as things are only tall if we look up at them.   - Modern Humility:     - Modesty has moved from the "organ of ambition" to the "organ of conviction."     - A man used to be doubtful about himself but undoubting about the truth. Now, he asserts himself and doubts the "Divine Reason."     - The Impact on Progress: The old humility was a "spur" to work harder; the new humility is a "nail in the boot" that makes a man stop altogether.     - We are producing a race too modest to believe the multiplication table or the law of gravity.

Scepticism and the Destruction of Reason

  - Reason is itself an act of faith. It is an act of faith to assert that thoughts have any relation to reality.   - The Evolution of Scepticism:     - The young sceptic says, "I have a right to think for myself."     - The complete (old) sceptic says, "I have no right to think at all."   - The Defense of Religious Authority:     - Religious authority (creeds, hierarchies, even the Inquisition) was not built to suppress reason, but to defend it.     - These were "dark defences" erected around the central, undemonstrable authority of the human mind to think.     - As religion goes, reason goes with it; both are and authoritative methods of proof that cannot themselves be proved.     - H.G. Wells and "Doubts of the Instrument": Wells questions the brain itself, removing reality from his own assertions.

Modern Fashions of Thought-Stopping

  - Materialism: Makes the mind mechanical; if the mind is a machine, thought is not exciting.   - Evolution (as an attack on thought):     - If it is just a scientific description of change, it is fine.     - If it means there is no "man" and no "ape" but only a "flux," it destroys the ability to think because there are no "things" to think about.     - Descartes said, "I think; therefore I am." The philosophic evolutionist says, "I am not; therefore I cannot think."   - The Theory of Progress and Changing Standards:     - Progress implies a fixed standard. If the test changes (e.g., from wanting to be "elegant" to wanting to be "oblong"), there is no improvement.     - Nietzsche’s idea that men once sought "evil" as "good" makes comparison impossible.     - Tennyson's metaphor—"the ringing grooves of change"—suggests that even change-worshippers treat change as an unchangeable groove.   - Pragmatism:     - Chesterton accepts it as a preliminary guide but rejects its extreme application.     - The pragmatist says to think what is necessary and ignore the Absolute. Chesterton argues that a belief in the Absolute is one of the primary human needs.

The Worship of Will

  - Seeing that reason destroys, some thinkers (Nietzsche, Shaw) turn to Will as the ultimate authority.   - The Egoism Paradox: To preach egoism is to practice altruism because you are taking trouble to drill your enemies.   - Evaluating Will:     - Shaw says man acts from will ("I want jam") rather than for happiness.     - Chesterton argues that praising an act because it shows "will" is meaningless; it just means it is an action.     - To admire "will in general" is to admire nothing, because the essence of will is that it is particular.   - Will as Self-Limitation:     - Every act of will is an act of selection and exclusion. Choosing one thing means rejecting everything else.     - Marriage is an agreement to give up all other women; becoming King of England means giving up being a Beadle in Brampton.     - Art as Limitation: Art is limitation; the essence of a picture is the frame. You cannot draw a "free" giraffe with a short neck; it would not be a giraffe.

The Failure of the Modern Revolutionist

  - The Jacobins of the French Revolution were successful because they willed something definite (democracy's freedoms and its vetoes).   - The modern rebel is a sceptic who doubts the institution he denounces and the doctrine by which he denounces it.   - Contradictions of the Modern Rebel:     - He complains that imperialism insults the purity of women, then writes a book insulting purity.     - He curses the Sultan because Christian girls lose their virginity, then curses "Mrs. Grundy" because they keep it.     - He calls a flag a "bauble," then blames oppressors for taking the bauble away from Poland or Ireland.     - By rebelling against everything, he has lost the right to rebel against anything.

The Master of Sanity: Joan of Arc

  - Joan of Arc represents a "moral unity" that combines the best of modern extremes.   - Comparison with Tolstoy and Nietzsche:     - She had Tolstoy’s reverence for the poor and the peasant, but unlike the aristocratic Tolstoy, she was the peasant.     - She had Nietzsche’s pride and hunger for the "rush of great horses," but unlike Nietzsche, she actually fought rather than just praising it.   - The Sanity of Christ:     - Moderns (like Renan) try to separate Christ’s pity from his pugnacity, calling the latter a "nervous breakdown."     - Chesterton argues there is no inconsistency between love for humanity and hatred for inhumanity.     - Moderns have "torn the soul of Christ into silly strips" labeled egoism and altruism, missing the "heroic sanity" of the whole.

The Abolition of Man: "The Green Book" and Subjectivism

  - C.S. Lewis analyzes "The Green Book" by Gaius and Titius, which teaches English to schoolboys.   - The Waterfall Example:     - A tourist calls a waterfall "sublime"; another calls it "pretty." Coleridge endorses "sublime."     - Gaius and Titius claim the man was not making a remark about the waterfall, but about his own feelings (I have "sublime feelings").   - Lewis’s Critique of Subjectivism:     - If "This is sublime" means "I have sublime feelings," then "You are contemptible" must mean "I have contemptible feelings."     - The feelings that prompt a man to call something sublime are actually feelings of veneration or humility.   - The Impact on the Student:     - Students learn that all predicates of value are unimportant statements about the speaker’s emotions.     - This assumption conditions the boy before he is old enough to recognize the controversy.

The Tao and Objective Value

  - The Traditional View: Pre-modern teachers believed objects actually merit our approval or disapproval.   - Definitions of Order:     - St. Augustine: Defined virtue as $ordo amoris$ (the ordinate condition of the affections).     - Aristotle: The aim of education is to make the pupil like and dislike what he ought.     - The Tao: Lewis Uses this term to cover the Platonic, Aristotelian, Stoic, Christian, and Oriental belief in objective value.   - Nature of the Tao:     - To call children "delightful" is to recognize an objective quality that demands a response.     - Emotional states can be in harmony with reason (when we feel liking for what ought to be approved) or out of harmony.   - The Modern Educator's Failure:     - The modern educator (Gaius and Titius) "de-bunks" emotions rather than building just sentiments.     - Lewis argues: "The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts."

• # Men Without Chests   - The Tripartite Soul:     - The Head: The seat of Reason/Spirit.     - The Belly: The seat of Appetite/Animal instincts.     - The Chest: The seat of Magnanimity and trained emotions.   - The Function of the Chest:     - The Chest is the "indispensable liaison officer" between the cerebral and the visceral.     - It is by this middle element that man is man.   - The Tragi-Comedy of Modernity:     - By "debunking" sentiments, we produce "Men without Chests."     - Society clamours for "drive," "dynamism," and "self-sacrifice" while removing the organ (the chest) that makes those virtues possible.     - Lewis’s final indictment: "In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst."