Reading Comprehension: C. S. Lewis, "The Empty Universe"

Mr. Steel

1. How, according to Lewis, was the universe originally conceived?

2. What is the result of "the advance of knowledge," according to Lewis? Why does Lewis refer to this as the "emptying of the universe"?

3. How are all the old understandings of the universe judged as knowledge "progresses"?

4. According to Lewis, what is the next thing to be "emptied" after the world? Why?

5. What is the critique of the concept of a "person" in the "empty universe"?

6. What criticism is being made by the author concerning the language of subjectivity and objectivity?

7. What does Lewis say is wrong with a strictly materialistic "philosophy" of human nature? Explain Lewis' humorous dismissal of this theory.

8. What is nihilism, and why does Lewis associate it with the emptying of the universe?

9. What is "animism," and why is a simple return to animism not a solution to the problems of nihilism, according to Lewis?

10. Explain Lewis' criticism of our modern understanding as having "thrown the baby out with the bathwater."