The Abolition of Man

Abolition of Man
First edition
AuthorC. S. Lewis
LanguageEnglish
SubjectValue and natural law
PublisherOxford University Press
Publication date
1943
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typeHardcover and paperback
Preceded byA Preface to Paradise Lost 
Followed byBeyond Personality 
TextAbolition of Man at Internet Archive

The Abolition of Man is a 1943 book by C. S. Lewis. Subtitled "Reflections on education with special reference to the teaching of English in the upper forms of schools", it uses a contemporary text about poetry as a starting point for a defense of objective value and natural law. Lewis goes on to warn readers about the consequences of doing away with ideas of objective value. It defends "man's power over nature" as something worth pursuing but criticizes the use of it to debunk values, the value of science itself being among them. The title of the book then, is taken to mean that moral relativism threatens the idea of humanity itself. The book was first delivered as a series of three evening lectures at King's College, Newcastle, part of the University of Durham, as the Riddell Memorial Lectures on 24–26 February 1943.


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