What’s Wrong with the World · Chapter
I: The Calvinism of Today explained
Chesterton responds to Bernard Shaw's review of his book, accepting Shaw's admission of Calvinism as a key point.
What happens
Chesterton responds to Bernard Shaw's review of his book, accepting Shaw's admission of Calvinism as a key point. He contrasts Catholic and Calvinist views of life: Catholicism sees earthly life as a dramatic battle of choices, while Calvinism (as Chesterton interprets Shaw) sees it as a predetermined epilogue. Chesterton argues that modern sociology and eugenics are rooted in a confused Calvinism, focusing on pre-birth judgment rather than the living individual, and he dismisses heredity as largely unknown.
Themes in this chapter
The Medical Fallacy in Sociology
Chesterton argues that modern sociology and eugenics are rooted in a confused Calvinism, treating life as predetermined rather than a dramatic battle.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Bernard Shaw
Reviewed Chesterton's book and admitted to being a Calvinist, prompting Chesterton's critique of his deterministic worldview.
- Unknown
The narrator (Chesterton) presents his own Catholic perspective, contrasting it with Shaw's Calvinism and critiquing modern sociology.
Key passages
“He said that, of course, Calvin was quite right in holding that 'if once a man is born it is too late to damn or save him.'”
Shaw agreed with Calvin that a person's fate is sealed at birth, leaving no room for change.
Chesterton uses Shaw's own words to highlight the deterministic core of Calvinism.
“To me these threescore years and ten are the battle. To the Fabian Calvinist (by his own confession) they are only a long procession of the victors in laurels and the vanquished in chains.”
For Chesterton, earthly life is a struggle of moral choices; for Shaw, it is merely a predetermined parade of winners and losers.
Contrasts the Catholic view of life as a drama with the Calvinist view as an epilogue.
“All our sociology and eugenics and the rest of it are not so much materialist as confusedly Calvinist; they are chiefly occupied in educating the child before he exists.”
Modern social sciences are less about materialism and more about a muddled Calvinism, focusing on shaping children before they are born.
Chesterton criticizes the pre-birth focus of eugenics and sociology.