Summary Of C. S Lewis 'The Abolition Of Man'

C.S Lewis begins “The Abolition of Man” speaking of Gaius and Titius’ “Green Book”. The “Green Book” serves as a visualization for a world without the Tao, allowing Lewis to set up his argument for the necessity thereof. The Tao represents a stable platform for which morals and ethics stand upon. The premise for “Men Without Chests” is that the Tao is unchangeable, there is right and wrong, and that right and wrong can only exist scrupulously inside the Tao. “The little human animal will not at first have the right responses. It must be trained to feel pleasure, liking, disgust, and hatred at those things which really are pleasant, likeable, disgusting and hateful.” (Lewis, 5) Lewis displays his thought process in this sentence, maintaining

Outside the Tao, man must either lie about their indoctrination or dismiss the idea of a right and wrong, thusly allowing the child to come up with his own standards. Men outside of the Tao claim no belief to right and wrong, however, when rearing children or teaching class, they inevitably take a side on what behavior is correct in the situation and what is incorrect. For example, if one were to murder another in the presence of one of the before mentioned men, the said man would have to either place his own beliefs above all others, and therefore impose himself on the young person, or he would have to allow the murder to slide. Many believe that law creates a moral doctrine by which man can follow instead of the Tao, but unfortunately, that is not the case. The only thing binding us to the law is fear of punishment or instinct, neither of which place a belief of right and wrong on a subject. The young person whom broke the law in order to act on the instinct that he must take the life of another did so because it felt like the correct thing to do. Even so, the law forbids him from murder, however, the law is also founded upon the sentiments of man. Each have the instinct