Which C.S. Lewis book argues that modern society may abolish humanity by rejecting objective values?

The Abolition of Man argues that rejecting objective values could ultimately abolish humanity.

C.S. Lewis published The Abolition of Man in 1943. The book developed from three lectures delivered at the University of Durham in February of that year. Lewis criticized educational approaches that treated moral judgments as merely subjective emotional reactions rather than as responses to real values.

He called the objective moral order the Tao, using a term that links his argument to traditions across several cultures. Lewis claimed that attempts to reshape human nature through technological power could produce people who had lost the qualities traditionally associated with humanity. His concern was not simply technology itself, but the moral assumptions guiding its use.

The work is sometimes confused with The Problem of Pain, another 1940s book by Lewis. The Problem of Pain addresses the theological problem of suffering, while The Abolition of Man is primarily a philosophical and educational critique. Its compact length and serious argument have made it a frequently discussed work in ethics and education.