The Abolition of Man by {author}: summary and why it matters

What it argues

Lewis began with a school textbook that told students that calling a waterfall sublime was merely a statement about the speaker's feelings. He argued that this kind of teaching, however innocent, trains young people to regard value as subjective and so removes the ground for any shared moral life.

Against it he set what he called the Tao, the body of moral conviction that appears in nearly every major culture: duties to parents and children, honesty, justice, mercy and courage. His claim is that these are not one option among many; they are the standard by which any option is judged, and cannot be dismissed without sawing off the branch one sits on.

The final chapter is the most unsettling. If a generation uses education and technology to condition its successors, the conditioners, having abandoned all values, will act on nothing but their own whims. Conquering nature then turns into the conquest of man by a few men over the rest.

Why it matters

The book is brief, about the length of a long lecture, and has been treated as a prophecy about both moral relativism in schools and the transhumanist ambitions of modern technology. Conservatives and Christians cite it often when debating curricula, bioethics and the limits of expert power.

Lewis argues from reason and common experience, not from scripture, so the case is open to readers of any faith.

About the author

C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) was an Oxford and later Cambridge scholar of medieval and Renaissance literature, an Anglican layman and the author of the Chronicles of Narnia. The Abolition of Man began as the Riddell Memorial Lectures at the University of Durham in 1943. Lewis said in later years that he considered it among his most important works, and he returned to its themes in the novel That Hideous Strength.

Who should read it

Parents, teachers and anyone puzzled about why moral argument seems so unstable. Read it alongside Mere Christianity for the wider picture.