What is the title of C.S. Lewis’s 1943 book arguing that modern education can weaken moral judgment?

The Abolition of Man is C.S. Lewis’s 1943 book arguing that modern education can weaken moral judgment.

The book grew from three lectures Lewis delivered at the University of Durham in 1943. In them, he criticized an approach to education that treated moral responses as merely subjective feelings. Lewis argued that human beings should be educated to recognize objective values rather than trained only to analyze or manipulate them.

The work is structured as three chapters: “Men Without Chests,” “The Way,” and “The Abolition of Man.” Its argument moves from education and moral formation to the consequences of rejecting an objective moral order.

The title can mislead readers into expecting a science-fiction novel. It is a compact work of moral philosophy and cultural criticism. It is also distinct from The Problem of Pain, Lewis’s 1940 book addressing suffering and Christian belief.