Monday, 11 May 2026

the Abolition of Man

This book is a trio of lectures by C.S. Lewis on the proper relationship between Nature & Truth, and as such the threats of subjectivism & scientism. I've read it for this blog before (see previous post) and I don't think I have all too much to add - I still think Lewis is far stronger as a rational apologist than as a full-weight philosopher of any ilk, but I do think on my previous reading I was a bit harsh on him.* This is far from the best text out there dealing with its themes, but as a series of essays introducing the topic to a lay audience, I think it paints a coherent and valuable picture. The contrast posited between tradition & progressivism especially upon this reading struck me as rather salient, even bespeaking some possible influence from Owen Barfield's Lucifer-Ahriman dynamic, which seemed to be lurking behind some of Lewis's points. I think Lewis in his polemic here is a little dramatic, seeing in modernism particularly (one shudders to think what he would have actually made of postmodernism had he lived to see it bear its fruits) the basic erasure of everything that roots us to our humanity, but nonetheless taken with a pinch of salt this is a very thought-provoking & interesting sketch.



* I think having read That Hideous Strength last year softened me substantially, as there Lewis develops the ideas of these essays to a fictional conclusion that I found to be very convincingly satisfactory indeed.

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