The Abolition of Man as Wake Up Call Essay -- Abolition of Man Essays

The Abolition of Man as Wake Up Call There are three very important ideas that C. S. Lewis explicates in his book, The Abolition of Man. The first try focuses on moral subjectivism, the second on the Tao, and the third on the consequences of living in a morally relativist society. As a dramatic conclusion to these essays, Lewis asserts that if we do not carefully improve ourselves and accept the authority of the Tao we may become heartless men and women, incapable(p) of governing a society of justice and values. In the first essay, Lewis communicates his philosophic musical arrangement that education plays an important part in the development of ethical values. In addition to this groundment, Lewis asserts that childrens readers, guised as harmless texts, can convey hidden messages that start potential to harm a childs developing worldview. Much of the first essay is focused on a schoolbook Lewis called The Green Book. Although Lewis chose a specific model for The Green Boo k, it could easily be whatever one of a whole generation of schoolbooks. Unfortunately, instead of teaching grammar and life-threatening writing as these books profess to do, students learn moral relativism. Lewis, who supports the idea of a Tao, natural law, in the next chapter, believes that youth educated by moral relativism are actually being denied the education needed to appreciate the philosophical claim that certain objects and ideas should hold on them as human beings. Lewis believes that a good education should link their experiences to the proper emotion. By reinforcing emotional reactions to fine-looking objects, values could be ingrained in their minds. By having a system of belief in their consciousness, they were given a vaccination against savagery. Their hearts kne... ...ingrained in our minds that we should be able to choose good without having to stop and think close why we value our choice as good. Antigone is a perfect drill of this she boldly defied the l aw of the state put forth by Creon because she believed, without question, that her brothers deathlike body deserved to be buried. It is worth noting that in both of these works, and preferably possibly in all of human experience, that natural law (or Tao) comes from a deep authority rather than a causation of a state or of one person. In both Abolition of Man and Antigone, the power of subjective law is always less powerful than the authority of the Tao. The abolition of man provides a clear warning to readers that we, as educated commonwealth and consumers of future Green Books, should heed carefully. Works Cited Lewis, C. S. The Abolition of Man. New York Macmillan, 1965.