29 pages • 58 minutes read
C. S. LewisThe Abolition of Man
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1943A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 3 Summary: “The Abolition of Man”
To conclude his argument, Lewis examines the consequences of “Man’s conquest of Nature,” (59) or scientific progress. Lewis finds that what is characterized as human beings’ conquest over nature is often in reality a case of human beings using nature to gain power over other human beings. Thus, what is described as scientific progress is not progress at all, but rather a tyranny of a few humans over many other humans.
Lewis predicts a future in which a small elite group of scientific experts will attempt to control the human population and mold the population according to the experts’ desires. Whereas in the past the Tao served as the basis for education, in the future, values will be created through education, which will more closely resemble social conditioning or propaganda. Thus, the Tao will be disregarded as new values take its place. In this conquering of the Tao, we will obliterate human nature.
The team of scientific experts, referred to as the Conditioners, will become the arbiters of value and meaning. The team will determine what is morally good or bad without any reference to the Tao. The only operating motive will be the Conditioners’ pleasure, which is a result of irrational impulses. In this way, man’s conquest of Nature “turns out, in the moment of its consummation, to be Nature’s conquest of Man” (68).
Nature will need to be redefined as everything that we have conquered and analyzed. The final step is to conquer human nature itself, but in doing conquering human nature, we will destroy ourselves. Only by restoring the primacy of the Tao can we destroy the power of the Conditioners.
Lewis defends himself against the idea that he is anti-science. On the contrary, he claims great respect for science and scientists, and he explains how science might possibly be the cure for the ills that he is describing in the book. A reformed science would explain things without explaining them away, and it would keep in mind the whole notion of reality. Ideally, it would regard nature and humanity in the context of a healthy relationship that flourishes in cooperation. Within this reformed context, nature and humanity can collaborate rather than compete for the dominant position.
Chapter 3 Analysis
Chapters 1 and 2 contain Lewis’s descriptions of the current state of affairs in education and society in the 1940s. In Chapter 3, Lewis introduces the dystopian aspect of his book, describing a dire future should the Tao continue to be ignored. His dystopian outlook is reflected in the fact that the chapter bears the title of the book: “The Abolition of Man.”
Lewis discusses instances where man has supposedly conquered nature; he cites airplanes, radio, and contraception as examples of man’s dominion over nature (54). These examples are commodities that belong to those in power. Lewis is skeptical of a too-ready embrace of scientific advancement, because such progress often comes at a human cost; some supposed advances have negative consequences. Contraceptives may improve some lives, but they enable living people to deny existence to future individuals.
Lewis analyzes the early history of the scientific revolution in terms of a desire for ever greater mastery over nature. Whereas the older wisdom embodied in the Tao addressed the conforming of the soul to reality, the modern scientific mindset chiefly focuses on exploiting nature for man’s benefit. Of particular note is the parallel which Lewis draws between early science and magic. Both flourished at around the same time, during the Renaissance, and both were based on a desire to control nature.
Lewis calls for a new scientific spirit that respects nature and human needs. He is concerned that the analytical mindset on which modern science is based reflects an essentially destructive tendency. If this tendency continues, reason itself will be destroyed, and we will live in a society dictated by the arbitrary desires of a small but elite group of powerful leaders.
Lewis emphasizes that the new tyranny will not come solely from the most obvious sources or from force. Although Lewis is writing during the global struggle against Fascism during World War II, he declares that “the process which, if not checked, will abolish Man goes on apace among Communists and Democrats no less than among Fascists” (73). Lewis warns that acts of tyranny may come stealthily through seemingly benign intellectual currents: “[M]any a mild-eyed scientist in pince-nez, many a popular dramatist, many an amateur philosopher in our midst, means in the long run just the same as the Nazi rulers of Germany” (73-74). The final chapter of The Abolition of Man is a stern warning to both political and thought leaders and to the general public to guard against de-humanizing tendencies in modern life, from wherever they may come.
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