Which 1943 C.S. Lewis book examines the education of the human mind and moral imagination?

The Abolition of Man is C.S. Lewis’s 1943 book examining education, moral judgment, and the human mind.

The work developed from three lectures Lewis delivered at Durham University in February 1943. It was published later that year by Oxford University Press. Lewis responds to what he regarded as an overly subjective approach to value, arguing that education should not merely train students to analyze feelings but should also cultivate appropriate emotions and moral perception.

The book is organized into three chapters: “Men Without Chests,” “The Way,” and “The Abolition of Man.” Its central discussion includes the idea of objective value, which Lewis calls the Tao, using the term for a cross-cultural moral tradition rather than limiting it to one particular religion.

The title does not describe the abolition of humanity in a literal political sense. It refers to the possibility that technological power and moral relativism could reduce people’s independence and humane judgment.