Which 1943 C.S. Lewis book argues that modern society can become dehumanizing through education and ideology?

The Abolition of Man is C.S. Lewis’s 1943 book about education, moral values, and the danger of reducing human judgment to mere conditioning.

The work originated as three lectures delivered at the University of Durham in 1943. Lewis responded to educational ideas that, in his view, treated moral statements as nothing more than subjective emotions or psychological reactions. He argued that traditional cultures recognize an objective moral order, which he called the Tao.

The book’s three chapters are titled “Men Without Chests,” “The Way,” and “The Abolition of Man.” Lewis warned that technological control over nature could ultimately become control over human nature itself. His concern was not simply scientific discovery; it was the use of knowledge without a corresponding moral framework.

The title can mislead readers into expecting a straightforward political or science-fiction narrative. The Abolition of Man is a compact work of philosophical and educational criticism. It is also distinct from Lewis’s fictional dystopian novel That Hideous Strength, although both books examine modern power, technocracy, and the shaping of humanity.