The Abolition of Man

This concise yet influential monograph presents Lewis's defense of objective moral values against what he perceives as the corrosive effects of moral subjectivism in modern education and philosophy. Writing in 1943, Lewis responds to contemporary educational texts that treat all value judgments as mere expressions of subjective feeling rather than statements about objective reality. He argues that this reduction of values to subjective states threatens the very foundation of human nature and civilization.

Lewis employs philosophical analysis to demonstrate that the denial of objective value leads to logical contradictions and ultimately to the destruction of humanity itself. He traces how modern thought, beginning with seemingly innocuous changes in educational philosophy, progressively undermines belief in objective truth and goodness. The work's central argument contends that certain moral principles, which Lewis calls the Tao, represent objective truths about reality that transcend cultural boundaries and historical periods. He draws extensively from various religious and philosophical traditions—Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Confucian, and others—to show the universal recognition of these fundamental values.

The text develops through three lectures that build a cumulative case. The first exposes how contemporary education implicitly teaches moral subjectivism; the second argues that all practical reasoning depends on accepting certain values as objectively valid; the third warns that the technological manipulation of human nature, divorced from objective values, will lead to the abolition of humanity itself. Lewis contends that those who reject the Tao while attempting to create new values ex nihilo engage in self-refutation, as they must smuggle in traditional values to make their arguments coherent.

While explicitly focused on educational philosophy and ethics, the work contributes significantly to theistic discourse by defending the metaphysical framework necessary for objective morality. Lewis argues that naturalistic explanations cannot account for the binding nature of moral obligations or the human capacity to perceive moral truths. Though he does not develop an explicit argument for God's existence, he establishes the philosophical groundwork that many theistic thinkers employ in moral arguments for God. The monograph's enduring influence extends beyond academic philosophy, shaping popular understanding of the relationship between objective morality, human nature, and transcendent reality.