Lewis believes this lack of training stems from modern educators no longer believing in objective value.The idea that objects like a beautiful waterfall intrinsically merit human responses. As a result, any expression of a human response is treated as merely a reflection of the speaker’s psychology, not as objective value.He cites a range of traditions Platonic, Aristotelian, Christian, Hindu, and Taoist which he sums up as "the Tao," a repository of beliefs that uphold objective value. This belief in objective value is the notion that certain attitudes are genuinely true or false.

He presents the example, A hypothetical innovator who seeks a rational basis for the belief that it is good to die for one’s country.Lewis argues that even if the innovator proves it is more rational to die for society, he still needs to prove that society is worth preserving. Rationalism alone, Lewis contends, cannot take the innovator where he wishes to go. Similarly, the innovator cannot rely on instinct as a way of getting underneath traditional values because conflicting instincts must be reconciled by some external standard.

The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it.

In the case of technologies like airplanes, the radio, or contraception, Lewis argues that power over nature really means power exercised by some men over others, with nature as the instrument. Ultimately, this will result in a select group of people shaping others—through methods like eugenics and propaganda into whatever they wish.While oppression has always existed, Lewis argues that modern governments and technologies possess far greater potential for oppression.

In his first of three lectures, "Men Without Chests," C.S. Lewis begins by critiquing a secondary English textbook he calls The Green Book, and its authors, whom he dubs "Gaius and Titius." Lewis criticizes their treatment of emotion in literature, claiming they reduce all value statements to mere emotions or sentiments. He argues that this sends students the unintended message that all expressions of emotion are worthless.

Men Without A Chests

Lewis goes on to criticize another author, "Orbilius," for rejecting all anthropomorphic language as irrational, without distinguishing between good and bad uses of such literary devices. He believes both of these approaches deprive students of important elements of their literary heritage. According to Lewis, authors like Gaius and Titius are misguided in their excessive fear of sentimentalism. The real problem, he contends, is that modern students’ sentiments have not been properly trained.

In his second lecture, "The Way," Lewis argues that modern educators are dangerous for society because they try to go beyond the Tao to discover supposedly more basic values beneath traditional ones.

The Way

Lewis concludes that the Tao is the basis for all value systems and must be accepted or rejected as a whole. This does not mean the Tao is static it can develop from within, by someone who understands and accepts it, but innovation imposed from without is fundamentally different.

In his third and final lecture, "The Abolition of Man," Lewis considers what happens when people view the Tao as just one more aspect of nature that humanity has the power to conquer. He questions what it means to "conquer nature."

The Abolition Of Man

Lewis argues that modern education, as exemplified by The Green Book, rejects the Tao. Moreover, it rejects the ancient Platonic conception of the human being, in which reason rules the appetites through emotions or sentiments — what Lewis describes as "the head rules the belly through the chest." Consequently, today’s educational system produces "men without chests."

Unlike past generations, modern powers are not constrained by fidelity to the Tao. By stepping outside the Tao, these rulers become no longer recognizably human in any traditional sense.Their victory over humanity itself leads to "the abolition of man." Lewis warns that modern humanity cannot have it both ways: either we are rational beings subject to the Tao, or we are raw material to be manipulated by select masters driven by their impulses.

He suggests that perhaps modern science can still be salvaged, so it can harness the powers of nature without being consumed by them. However, he also posits that modern analytical methods might inherently destroy things by attempting to examine them.Lewis concludes with a metaphor: the purpose of seeing through something is to see what lies beyond, like a garden through a window. If we try to see through everything, including objective values, we end up in a world where everything is transparent—and seeing becomes the same as not seeing at all.

Since neither rationalism nor instinct provides a stable alternative to the Tao, the innovator can only select fragments of it, without being able to justify the elevation of one value over another—such as choosing between duty to one’s children and duty to one’s parents.

Full Summary of The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis sets out to persuade his audience of the importance and relevance of universal values such as courage and honor in contemporary society.