The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis
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I’m a big fan of Lewis, but after reading The Abolition of Man, I think I have finally figured out his problem. Lewis always casts too wide a net. He is so knowledgeable, and has debated the issues with so many people of vastly differing opinions, that he tries to counter every argument, predict every objection, and wrap it all up by the end of each chapter. He enters the parking lot and circles every light post before exiting. When compared with the notes he must have had while writing, it probably made perfect sense, but for those of us who are deprived of his notes, never had the conversations he had nor heard the counter arguments he had, we get a bit lost.
His general gist was that Traditional Morality (which he calls the Tao) is a universal Law of reality that demands no proof, evidence or reason. He calls it one of those things that “just is”, like common sense, and it is such a firm-rooted law that every society on earth, regardless of its religion or culture, has recognized it (he then gives examples of cultures recognizing the Tao from ancient Egyptian to Christian, Babylonian to African, which is very handy).
He gœs on to argue that no one can debunk the Tao because in order to have a defensible position against it, one must actually invoke it (for example, my argument is against the Tao and my argument is true, presupposing that Truth is good — a traditional moral found only in the Tao).
The Abolition of Man comes in when one tries to excise the Tao from humanity, because one finds that man can not be man without it — it is a defining characteristic of man, found in no animals, and nowhere else in the universe that we know. To become a race that rejects the Tao is to become something other than human.
I really respect Lewis’ argument and I think he is, of course, correct. I’m just sad that he packaged such a great message in a book that was originally written as a series of three lectures, read to an audience that was trained to read ancient Greek and Latin, and therefore he makes many presupposition about his audience’s reading, education and the things they take for granted. This produces a book that is hard for the layman to apprehend.
Anyways, it was good but reading a synopsis of the book would work for most people.
Classy Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
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About OxhornI’m an author, songwriter and movie-maker who lives in Seattle, WA. I earned my BA in history from the University of Washington and have been interested in arguments, reasoning, research, writing and history ever since. I’m best known for my animated comedy machinima movies and music which you can find at oxhorn.com. Visit brandonMdennis.com for more about me, and be sure to subscribe, follow me on Twitter and Facebook. Watch my weekly live show, Scotch & Smoke Rings, at 7:00 PM Pacific for more classiness. |
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2 Responses to The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis
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I agree with Lewis in the sense that there are objective morals (e.g. it is always wrong to kill somebody based on their ethnicity), but what worries me is the fact that he says these objective morals require no evidence or proof. I can logically justify these morals, I can say how they contribute to the betterment of society.
Avi(Quote)
Well yes, he dœs have a target audience, but he was not suspecting us hear in the future to have that, he was writing for then. I believe he had a hope to pass his knowledge onto them, as disciples almost, and that the word would spread, and it had. Many things that he gœs over in this book continue on in our everyday life, though much of it has become distorted by human perspective and means.
In no way had he cast a net too wide, it was a size that those he wrote it for would be caught and understand. Many of his books are like this, and many people do not understand any of his works. He gœs beyond what we know in our society, and gœs beyond what we learned when we were young. He gave this to those with years of experience and knowledge to teach it to us.
I do not think it has failed in any way though, he got his message across to those it needed to be given to. We ourselves here in this part of the world know of God and have the works we need to live as we need, many things he taught in this book our lost on us, but also much of what he has written, makes sense where it needs to.
Greg(Quote)