Which 1943 C. S. Lewis book argues that objective moral values are essential to education and society?

The 1943 C. S. Lewis book arguing that objective moral values are essential to education and society is The Abolition of Man.

The work developed from three lectures Lewis gave at the University of Durham in 1943. He criticized educational approaches that treated moral judgments as merely expressions of personal feeling. In their place, he defended a shared moral order, which he called the Tao, drawing examples from several cultural and religious traditions.

Lewis warned that attempts to eliminate objective value could produce people who are highly powerful technologically but weakened in judgment and character. The book’s title refers to the danger of reducing humanity to something controlled by its own techniques rather than shaped by reason and virtue.

It is not the same as Mere Christianity, which grew from wartime radio talks and explains central Christian beliefs for a broad audience. The Abolition of Man is shorter, more philosophical, and focused especially on education, moral knowledge, and the consequences of scientistic thinking.