Which C.S. Lewis book, published in 1943, examines the loss of objective moral values?

The Abolition of Man is C.S. Lewis’s 1943 book examining the rejection of objective moral values. It developed from three lectures Lewis delivered at the University of Durham in February 1943.

The book criticizes a view of education that treats moral judgments as nothing more than subjective feelings. Lewis argues that cultures have traditionally recognized a shared moral order, which he calls the Tao, and warns that abandoning it could allow people to be manipulated by those who control education and technology.

The work is philosophical rather than fictional and is much shorter than Lewis’s major novels. Its title refers to the possibility that attempts to master nature could ultimately reduce human agency and human nature itself. It is often read alongside Lewis’s later reflections on science, education, and ethics.