Which C.S. Lewis book was published in 1943 and argued for objective moral values?

C.S. Lewis published The Abolition of Man in 1943, arguing for objective moral values.

The book developed from three lectures Lewis delivered at the University of Durham in February 1943. In the lectures, he criticized an approach to education that treated moral judgments as merely subjective emotions. Lewis argued that education should recognize real values rather than produce people unable to distinguish between right and wrong.

The work is divided into three chapters: “Men Without Chests,” “The Way,” and “The Abolition of Man.” Lewis used the traditional idea of natural law, which he called the Tao, to describe a shared moral framework found across cultures.

The title is often misunderstood as a call to eliminate humanity. Lewis instead warned that technological control and moral skepticism could reduce human beings to objects shaped by other people’s power.