Monday, March 20, 2023

The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis

The Abolition of Man: Reflections on education with special reference to the teaching of English in the upper forms of schools

 

This is a challenging book to review. It is brilliant, profound, and timeless, even though it was published in 1943.

 

It is nearly prophetic.

 

It is Lewis’ defense of Natural Law versus Subjectivism and derived from a series of lectures he delivered at King’s College Newcastle. The lectures directly responded to a contemporary book espousing subjectivism in education, but I infer Lewis’ lectures and book were also in response to subjectivism as a whole.

 

It’s a short book but too big to synopsize into a few paragraphs. It is surprisingly lacking in Christian ideology. This was Lewis’ expressed intent. He makes a purely logical case, the conclusion being that when subjectivism has its way…

 

Man’s final conquest has proved to be the abolition of man.

 

I’ve not read That Hideous Strength by Lewis, but I understand it to be a fictional rendering of The Abolition of Man.

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2 comments:

  1. Yes, me, too. I have to read That Hideous Strength. This one is the one about men without chests, right? Welp, anyway, I think man has reached his final conquest.

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