The Abolition of Man in Summary
With the end of World War II and the mounting of the Cold War, the
world was bitterly divided along ideological and political lines. The
extent of horrors seen and the tension between value systems and power
demands projected into the immediate future would provokes such works as
C.S. Lewis' 1943 text, The Abolition of Man.
The text begins deceptively as a discussion on instruction in the
English language but soon careens into a dramatic philosophical
hypothetical. This is well captured by the conflict which is introduced
during the opening discussion on English, where Lewis derides the
grammarian for his dogmatic approach to instruction. Here, Lewis accuses,
"it is not a theory they put into his mind but an assumption, which ten
years hence, its origin forgotten and its presence unconscious, will
condition him to take one side in a controversy which he has never
recognized as a controversy at all." (5) In a manner, Lewis enters into a
discussion on the threat of ethnocentrism as provoked by linguistic
instruction. This leads him to a key precept of the text, that grammar
education is far too deeply biased by its philosophical conceits, rendering
it a poor educational standard in both disciplines.
Such is the launching point for the larger focal point of the text,
which revolves upon the argument that natural law such as that implicated
by Judeo-Christian and Eastern philosophical value systems must be
preserved against the dehumanizing impact of exclusively rationalist
thought. This drives a vision of the future which echoes the presentation
in such seminal dystopian texts as Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New
World. As with these familiar texts, Lewis describes a bleak future in
which rationalism has shifted into aggressive social, psychological and
behavioral control which essentially relieves us of our humanity.
At the crux of the text is a somewhat alarmist and emotionally driven
discourse that transitions from a meditation on education into a missive on
the need to preserve traditional values, classical thought and humanizing
interaction with one another.
Works Cited:
Lewis, C.S. (1943). The Abolition of Man. Harper One.
They may know what they have done and freely confess to it, but a true understanding of what they have done is not really present. It is somewhat like the difference between knowing that jumping off the roof and hitting the ground will hurt, and actually making the jump and understanding what it feels like to hit the ground that hard from 10 or 15 feet up. The concept of
The manner in which consumer goods can affect human affairs, however, differs. While demand for certain consumer goods can lead to oppression, the way people demand consumer goods may also destroy oppressive practices. When Britons demanded sugar with no regard to the way sugar and coffee they enjoyed for the breakfast were produced, slavery flourished. But when the Britons began to demand goods that they believed were not causing
Civil Rights historian Steve Estes adds: "the ever-present threat of lynching for supposed sexual improprieties meant that their [Black male] survival could depend on their ability to mask their masculinity" (Estes, 2005). Being able to express one's sexuality and desire in an open, healthy fashion and not feel in danger of persecution, in Estes' view, is a critical, but often unacknowledged part of being a man. Closely guarding the rights
Electoral College System The Presidential Elections of 2000 have once again raised doubts regarding the effectiveness of the electoral college system. A straight accounting of the popular vote showed that Democratic candidate Al Gore had a lead of over 500,000 votes over his opponent, George W. Bush. The Supreme Court was thus forced to assume the role of electoral arbiter for Florida's vote count, which resulted in the latter's victory via
Suffrage Questions: 1. One of the first strategies that the Sentinels employed with the purpose of being heard was to relate to early twentieth century gender concepts that would provide political voice to women. Also, by emphasizing that they were an active part of the American society, they insisted that they should receive equal democratic recognition from the masses. Lastly, they took advantage of President Wilson's militaristic doctrine to turn their
Himmler himself came up with an explanation for those who could not obey orders, in spite of their unconditioned obedience, so that their comrades and the rest of the population get a message of a condition in their mental health, rather than a disobedience dictated by their human nature. Almost a century and a half after the official abolition of slavery of the U.S., a comparison comes to mind. The
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now