About the author
British scholar of medieval literature and Christian apologist (1898–1963), longtime Oxford and Cambridge professor. The Abolition of Man (1943) is his most philosophical work: a defence of objective value (which he calls the 'Tao') against a relativism that, by reducing values to mere feeling, ultimately hands humanity over to those who would condition and control it. A compact, influential argument in moral philosophy and the critique of technocratic modernity.
Synopsis
A critique of moral subjectivism and technocratic control, defending inherited moral order.
Core passage idea
Paraphrase · Modern copyrighted workLewis argues that education without objective value can produce clever people without moral formation.
This connects spiritual and moral education to politics: what kind of human beings does a society form?
To avoid a bubble
Pair with secular moral philosophy or Nietzsche.
Reading note
Short, accessible, and useful for moral order and education paths.
Best paired with
Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality.