The Abolition of Man

The Abolition of Man, by C. S. Lewis is a difficult book. It is a relatively short work, consisting of three chapters and a brief appendix. However C. S. Lewis was a man of great learning and deep insight, and therefore he covers a lot of ground rapidly. And while Lewis apparently intended this book for a learned audience, the clarity of his writing makes the main points accessible to most readers. So while reading this book can be a serious undertaking, it is also very rewarding.

Men Without Chests

Prof. Lewis begins with a critical review of a high school literature textbook in use at the time. The authors of the textbook present various examples of contemporary writing and point out a variety of shortcomings. Lewis notes that the textbook authors mainly debunk the sentiment contained within their examples. In addition, the textbook lacks any literary examples expressing proper sentiment for the various situations.

While the textbook contains poor literary criticism, Prof. Lewis indicates that its principle fault is wretched philosophy. This philosophy is hidden between the lines and leaves the unsuspecting student with a vague sense that all sentiment (for example, patriotism) should be debunked, or be "seen through" so as to reveal the selfish or self-referential motives of the author.

The very power of Gaius and Titius depends on the fact that they are dealing with a boy: a boy who thinks he is 'doing' his 'English prep' and has no notion that ethics, theology and politics are all at stake. It is not a theory they put into his mind, but an assumption, which ten years hence, its origin forgotten and its presence unconscious, will condition him to take one side in a controversy which he has never recognized as a controversy at all.

Further, Prof. Lewis contends that:

The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts. The right defense against false sentiments is to inculcate just sentiments.

That is, modern students are not overly sentimental, but rather are almost entirely lacking in just sentiment. But where are these just sentiments to come from?

Until quite modern times all teachers and even all men believed the universe to be such that certain emotional reactions on our part could be either congruous or incongruous to it -- believed in fact, that objects did not merely receive, but could merit, out approval, our reverence, or out contempt.

Prof. Lewis then develops this idea of merit using his broad knowledge of history and philosophy. He describes a set of commonly recognized principles which have withstood the test of time and therefore merit our acceptance as well. For convenience, he calls these principles 'the Tao'. These principles are well-known to many cultures and

... what is common to them all is something we cannot neglect. It is the doctrine of objective value, the belief that certain attitudes are really true, and others are really false, to the kind of thing that universe is and the kind of things we are.

The modern inclination to discard these principles results in "men without chests". The 'chest' representing those sentiments which connects a persons thoughts to his actions. This disconnect between thoughts and actions has tragic consequences in culture.

[W]e continue to clamor for those qualities we are rendering impossible.... In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.

The Way

The second chapter develops the concept of the Tao more fully.

Prof. Lewis begins by pointing out that no matter how subjective "Gaius and Titius" are about traditional values, they must hold to some core values, otherwise their textbook would be pointless. Among the items they criticize as meaningless are bravery, gentlemanly behavior, patriotism and love of country. On the other hand, the items that they approve of are peacefulness, democracy, cleanliness, comfort and security. They take for granted that these latter concepts are immune to the same process of subjective criticism that they have applied to other traditional values.

When pressed for a justification for the approved ideas, the innovator will fall back on a reasoned defence. These ideas are defended as reasonable to the individual or the community. However, Prof. Lewis points out that this sort of reasoning is impossible without ultimately resorting to principles from the Tao, the thing which they initially set out to discard.

With the reasoned defense failing, the innovator will fall back to the 'instinct' defense. But Prof. Lewis points out that instinct isn't something which is really understood beyond some basic impulse. If this basic impulse is irresistible, then why do we need to defend it at all? And even if it is irresistible, on what basis do we know that we should obey it?

The truth finally becomes apparent that neither in any operation with factual propositions nor in any appeal to instinct can the Innovator find the basis for a system of values. None of the principles that he requires are to be found there: but they are all to be found somewhere else.... All of the practical principles behind the Innovator's case for posterity, or society, or the species, are there from time immemorial in the Tao.

Of the traditional morality in the Tao, he says:

You cannot reach them as conclusions: they are premisses.

And further:

This thing which I have for convenience called the Tao, and which others may call Natural Law of Traditional Morality or the First Principles of Practical Reason or the First Platitudes, is not one among a series of possible systems of value. It is the sole source of all value judgements. If it is rejected, all value is rejected. If any value is retained, it is retained. The effort to refute it and raise a new system of value in its place is self-contradictory. There never has been, and never will be, a radically new judgement of value in the history of the world.

The Abolition of Man

In the final chapter, Prof Lewis analyzes the idea of Man's conquest of Nature.

In order to understand fully what Man's power over Nature, and therefore the power of some men over other men, really means, we must picture the race extended in time from the date of its emergence to that of its extinction. Each generation exercises power over its successors: and each, in so far as it modifies the environment bequeathed to it and rebels against tradition, resists and limits the power of its predecessors.

This power over Nature, and thus of some men over other men, ultimately leads to to subjection:

The last men, far from being the heirs of power, will be of all men most subject to the dead hand of the great planners and conditioners and will themselves exercise least power upon the future. The real picture is that of one dominant age -- let us suppose the hundredth century A.D. -- which resists all previous ages most successfully and dominates all subsequent ages most irresistibly, and thus is the real master of the human species.

Lewis rightly asks, what or who will constrain the Conditioners? There is no historical precedent for benevolent rule outside of traditional morality. Thus apart from the Tao, Man does not conquer Nature, but ultimately becomes subject to the 'natural' impulses of the Conditioners.

Returning to first principles, he concludes with:

[Y]ou cannot go on 'explaining away' for ever; you will find that you have explained explanation itself away. You cannot go on 'seeing through' things for ever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it. It is good that the window should be transparent, because the street or the garden beyond it is opaque. How if you see through the garden too? It is no use trying to 'see through' first principles. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To 'see through' all things is the same as not to see.

HarperOne, ISBN 0060652942
Also in The Complete C. S. Lewis Signature Classics. HarperOne, ISBN 0061208493