CS Lewis (29^th November, 1898 - 22^nd November, 1963¹), was an author and a Professor of Literature at Cambridge. He was famous for his much beloved fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia as well as being a prolific and very popular author in other genres.

His work The Abolition of Man (1943)² is targeted at public education in the mid 20th century, that in his opinion was drifting to a comprehensive education of the students to a common standard or level, at the expense of their moral and ethical lifting of their intellect. In that sense it was a reactionary criticism of a modern trend. Its message is often argued with reference to political, religious, and philosophical themes.

Lewis mainly addresses the issue of moral relativism that he asserts is the current thrust of educational doctrine, that rejects the prior dogma³ of objective value (that is the belief that 'certain attitudes are really true, and others really false, to the kind of thing the universe is and the kinds of things we are.'). Lewis calls this doctrine the 'Tao' (the Way). His focus of much of the book is in explaining why society needs a sense of objective values.

The Abolition of Man is relevant to current debates about morality generally and education specifically. The book will make more sense though to those who have experienced the British education system as this is the framework that Lewis uses to develop his argument.

Is the book relevant today? Well, read what Lewis has to say of the 'distant' future;

'...in which the values and morals of the majority are controlled by a small group who rule by a perfect understanding of psychology, and who in turn, being able to 'see through' any system of morality that might induce them to act in a certain way, are ruled only by their own unreflected whims. The controllers will no longer be recognizably human, the controlled will be robot-like, and the Abolition of Man will have been completed.'

Does that fit now when we look back some 50+ years later? The value of prophetic statements like that are in their ability to fit just well enough to make us think they are plausible if we let a trend continue, thus mobilising us into corrective action. Something to think about and guard against.

Selected Quotes

• 'Without the aid of trained emotions the intellect is powerless against the animal organism.'
• 'As the king governs by his executive, so Reason in man must rule the mere appetites by means of the spirited element.'
• 'A great many of those who 'debunk' traditional...values have in the background values of their own which they believe to be immune from the debunking process.'
• 'The preservation of society, and of the species itself, are ends that do not hang on the precarious thread of Reason: they are given by Instinct.'
• 'If we did not bring to the examinations of our instincts a knowledge of their comparative dignity we could never learn it from them.'
• 'An open mind, in questions that are not ultimate, is useful. But an open mind about the ultimate foundations either of Theoretical or of Practical Reason is idiocy.'
• 'Wherever any precept of traditional morality is simply challenged to produce its credentials, as though the burden of proof lay on it, we have taken the wrong position.'
• 'If we are to have values at all we must accept the ultimate platitudes of Practical Reason as having absolute validity...'
• 'What we call Man's power over Nature turns out to be a power exercised by some men over other men with Nature as its instrument.'
• 'Man's conquest of Nature turns out, in the moment of its consummation, to be Nature's conquest of Man.'

Moral Laws Through the Ages

Lewis provides an interesting annex of moral codes from a variety of traditions; Norse, Egyptian, Babylonian, Greaco-Roman, Hindu, Chinese, Judeao-Christian, Aboriginal Australian and Native American traditions. It provides some evidence of his point that there is a genuine commonality of moral law across the ages. A small snapshot is provided below:

• 'In Nastrond (= Hell) I saw... murderers.' (Old Norse. Volosp?38, 39)
• 'This first I rede thee: be blameless to thy kindred. Take no vengeance even though they do thee wrong.' (Old Norse. Sigdrifum?, 22)
• 'I have not brought misery upon my fellows. I have not made the beginning of every day laborious in the sight of him who worked for me.' (Ancient Egyptian. Confession of the Righteous Soul. ERE v. 478)
• 'Love thy wife studiously. Gladden her heart all thy life long.' (Ancient Egyptian. ERE v. 481)
• 'He who is asked for alms should always give.' (Hindu. Janet, i. 7)
• 'Your father is an image of the Lord of Creation, your mother an image of the Earth. For him who fails to honour them, every work of piety is in vain. This is the first duty.' (Hindu. Janet, i. 9)
• 'Slander not.' (Babylonian. Hymn to Samas. ERE v. 445)
• 'Speak kindness ... show good will.' (Babylonian. Hymn to Samas. ERE v. 445)
• 'Never do to others what you would not like them to do to you.' (Ancient Chinese. Analects of Confucius, trans. A. Waley, xv. 23; cf. xii. 2)
• 'He whose heart is in the smallest degree set upon goodness will dislike no one.' (Ancient Chinese. Analects, iv. 4)
• 'Men were brought into existence for the sake of men that they might do one another good.' (Roman. Cicero. De Off. i. vii)
• 'Natural affection is a thing right and according to Nature.' (Greek. Ibid. i. xi)
• 'Love thy neighbour as thyself.' (Ancient Jewish. Leviticus 19:18)
• 'Do to men what you wish men to do to you.' (Christian. Matthew 7:12)
• 'If the native made a "find" of any kind (e.g., a honey tree) and marked it, it was thereafter safe for him, as far as his own tribesmen were concerned, no matter how long he left it.' (Australian Aborigines. ERE v. 441)
• 'You will see them take care of... widows, orphans, and old men, never reproaching them.' (Redskin. ERE v. 439)