The Abolition of Man

Abolition of Man

First edition
Author	C. S. Lewis
Language	English
Subject	Value and natural law
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Publication date	1943
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Hardcover and paperback
Preceded by	A Preface to Paradise Lost
Followed by	Beyond Personality
Text	Abolition of Man at Internet Archive

Part of a series on
Human enhancement
Advocacy Rationale Adaptionist "Beneficient" Emancipatory Compensatory Democratic "Directive" Libertarian "Metahumanistic" Posthumanistic "Prometheist" Preventative Transhumanistic Paradigm Biohappiness Cyborgs Eugenics Intelligence amplification Moral enhancement Prostheses
(De facto) germline interventions Selective Cloning Counseling Genetic Genomic Pre-conception Genetic enhancement Genetic engineering Epigenome editing PGD Embryo quality Oocyte selection Polygenic (risk) score (technical article) Prenatal testing Selective abortion Sex selection Sperm sorting "Nobelist sperm banks"
Somatic interventions Body hacking Somatic gene therapy for color blindness in sports doping Stem-cell therapy Embryonic cells Fetal tissue implant Chemical Stimulants Amphetamine Methamphetamine Ritalin Nootropics Modafinil Piracetam Xanthine derivatives Caffeine Neurological Brain implant Brain–computer interface Deep brain stimulation "Man-Computer Symbiosis" (1960) Neuralink Neurohacking
Opposition Appeal to nature Bioconservatism "Brave New World Argument" Chesterton Francis Fukuyama Our Posthuman Future (2002) Cloning prohibition Leon Kass Stem cell controversy "Designer baby" "Frankenstein's monster" He Jiankui genome editing incident Hwang affair Against life extension Undesirability of immortality Nikolas Kompridis Legal EU convention on Bioethics Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act (vetoed) United Nations Declaration on Human Cloning In the UK 1990 act 2003 act 2008 act 2001 act C.S. Lewis The Abolition of Man (1943) That Hideous Strength (1945) "Playing God" Religious response to ARTs "Wisdom of repugnance"
Related ART Exowombs IVG Augmented learning Deep ecology Treating executive dysfunction Evolutionary humanism Longevity Anti-aging movement Life extension Rejuvenation Young blood transfusion Natalism Natura naturans Pontifical and Promethean man Collapse of the therapy-enhancement divide Promethean gap Technophobia Therapy-enhancement distinction
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The Abolition of Man is a 1943 book by C. S. Lewis. Subtitled "Reflections on education with special reference to the teaching of English in the upper forms of schools", it uses a contemporary text about poetry as a starting point for a defense of objective value and natural law. Lewis goes on to warn readers about the consequences of doing away with ideas of objective value. It defends "man's power over nature" as something worth pursuing but criticizes the use of it to debunk values, the value of science itself being among them. The title of the book then, is taken to mean that moral relativism threatens the idea of humanity itself. The book was first delivered as a series of three evening lectures at King's College, Newcastle, part of the University of Durham, as the Riddell Memorial Lectures on 24–26 February 1943.