Which lecture series led to C.S. Lewis’s book The Abolition of Man?

The Riddell Memorial Lectures led to C.S. Lewis’s book The Abolition of Man.

Lewis delivered the Riddell Memorial Lectures at the University of Durham in February 1943. The three lectures were later published together as The Abolition of Man in 1943. The book examines education, moral objectivity, and the danger of treating values as merely subjective feelings.

Lewis criticizes an approach to education that trains students to dismiss value judgments as nothing more than emotional reactions. He argues instead for a shared moral order, which he calls the Tao, drawing examples from several cultural and religious traditions.

The book is not a work of fiction and is not directly based on Lewis’s wartime radio broadcasts. The Gifford Lectures were a different lecture series, associated with other scholars and institutions. Lewis’s Riddell lectures remain among his most concentrated philosophical works.