Which 1943 book by C.S. Lewis argues that education should develop moral character?

The 1943 C.S. Lewis book that argues education should develop moral character is The Abolition of Man. The work grew from three lectures delivered at the University of Durham in February 1943.

Lewis wrote the book partly in response to approaches to education and language that, in his view, treated moral judgments as merely subjective emotional reactions. He argued that education should cultivate proper responses to objective values, not simply train students to manipulate facts or express preferences.

The book is organized around three chapters: “Men Without Chests,” “The Way,” and “The Abolition of Man.” It introduces Lewis’s term “the Tao” for a broad body of traditional moral principles shared across cultures. The book’s argument is philosophical rather than a school-administration manual, so it is often discussed in ethics, education, and religious studies.

The title can mislead modern readers: Lewis was not proposing the abolition of humanity. He was warning that certain attempts to master nature could ultimately diminish human nature.