The Abolition of Man



The Abolition of Man

Introduction

In "The Abolition of Man" by C. S. Lewis, the idea is the cultural crisis of humanity. With this concept as a trigger, the author warns of the dangers of establishing and defending an educational model based on the subjectivism that minimizes the value of objective judgments and enhances the importance of feelings. As said, every civilization from a single center, which can only be reached through a natural law driven by reason. In this context, the writer points out that emotions and feelings are illogical, although they may be rational or irrational if they have or not associated with a root reason. The main thesis of this book is that if we debunk and abolish traditional moral values and gain control over the conscience of man as science has enabled us to control other things in nature, it will result in the eventual Abolition of Man.

Summary

An Irish writer and teacher, living in England, gave a series of lectures on education at the University of Durham in February 1943. This man, Clive Staples Lewis, was horrified by reading a textbook that, in the pedagogical aspects, tends to suppress the very notion of universal morality. He decided to make the starting point of its course, thus giving three short lectures, subsequently published under the title, “The abolition of man”. The natural order of Reason inspires the belief that certain attitudes are really true and good and others really false and harmful. No emotion or feeling is in itself logical, but may be rational or irrational as Reason fit or not. The heart never takes the place of the head, but can, and must obey (columbia.edu).

Following Plato and Aristotle, CS Lewis argues that this natural order which inspires Reason is not one any of the systems of possible values, but the only source of any system. The proposed new ideologies out of context and misrepresenting various aspects of this natural order, his rebellion would be something like "the rebellion of the branches against the tree": if the rebels could overcome the natural order, there would be have been destroyed themselves. "The human mind, says Lewis has no power to invent a new value to imagine a new primary color, or even for creating a new sun and a new sky that contains it (Lewis, 2001)." Which, of course, means that no progress can be made in our perception of value, but these new insights have to be made from within the natural order, not from outside. Only the man who has been guided by the natural order can deepen the securities it issues. In our time, the violation of natural law is often perceived as an achievement of progress. For CS Lewis, what we call `conquest 'is not only the imposition of power over other men. He illustrates his claim with the example of contraceptives, an achievement of progress that most men consider an achievement. But to Lewis, what contraceptives allow a human generation is to ...