"The Abolition Of Man" by C. S. Lewis--Book Review

After having spent more than a week remaining at home, avoiding face to face contacts with anyone other than my FedEx man this morning, I am tired of thinking about the Corona Virus pandemic, the possibility of becoming randomly infected, and the possibility of dying from a virus

which has been poorly, treasonously, and inadequately dealt with by the TRAITOR who illegally occupies the White House based on his TREASON with Russia, I was ready for a break.  I decided a few days ago to read a book by C. S. Lewis which I had not remembered ever being aware of, "The Abolition Of Man". Most of you probably remember Lewis as having the author of "The Chronicles of Narnia" and "The Space Trilogy" which are some of the best and best known writing in the field of science fiction and fantasy.  But Lewis was a prolific writer in the fields of philosophy and theology and he is considered to be a major thinker in the area of christian apologetics. His book of essays, "Mere Christianity" is considered to be a classic in the field of christian apologetics just as "The Chronicles of Narnia" and "The Space Trilogy" are classics in their field of fantasy and science fiction. But this book, "The Abolition Of Man" is not in either of those areas.  The official C. S. Lewis website to which I have provided the link above files this book under the heading "Literary Criticism".  I would not necessarily agree with that label and think of the book as being much more appropriately placed in the field of educational philosophy.  Another anonymous writer has said that the book is "...a starting point for a defense of objective value and natural law as well as a warning of the consequences of doing away with or "debunking" those things. It defends science as something worth pursuing but criticizes using it to debunk values, the value of science itself being among them, or defining it to exclude such values."  In all honesty, after reading it, I have to say that I'll be damned if I'm sure exactly what it is other than educational philosophy.  I am not a philosopher or a student of philosophy.  Like most other American undergraduate students, I suffered through "Introduction To Philosphy" because it was a requirement of my university.  But I also read a lot of other philosophy during that undergraduate program because I was a member of the Morehead State University Academic Honors Program which was chaired at that time by Dr. George M. "Mac" Luckey who had also served for a few years as the chairman of the philosophy department.  The program, at least during Mac's tenure as its chair was strongly based in philosophy and literature.  Six courses comprised the program and were restricted to attendance by only members of the program who were competitively admitted based on academic qualifications.  Those courses began with a course which was based in the Greek and Roman classics including the  works of Plato and three other courses followed which took us through the other major periods of greater philosophical and literary progress in the world.  Those four courses were also accompanied by two seminars which varied from year to year in both subject matter and professors. The one which impressed me most was based in scientific progress including the works of Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking.  But none of those courses and none of the philosophical content I read, understood at the time well enough to receive an "A", and tried desperately to absorb was enough to make me want to change my major to philosophy.  Neither did this book, "The Abolition Of Man" by C. S. Lewis.  Maybe I am just getting old, but this was a very boring little book to read.  But I have enough respect for C. S. Lewis and his other works to still come away willing to bore my readers on this blog with my discussion of the experience.  

The book contains three chapters or essays and is only fifty-eight pages long.  But it was still more than I was looking for when I paid a former part employee fifty cents for it along a pile of other books at the same price all of which I am convinced will excite me more.  But I do not want to leave my readers with the impression that I do not respect C. S. Lewis and his works.  He was a close friend of J. R. R. Tolkein of "Lord Of The Rings" fame and the two of them were key members of the famous group of friends known as "The Inklings".  The two of them were the two best known members and most prolific writers among this group which also included the writer Owen Barfield who was also quite prolific by ordinary standards.  The group was composed of at least fifteen members, all associated with Oxford University, over the years and always met weekly at an Oxford pub named The Eagle And Child but known around London at The Bird And Baby.  I have often wished I could have been a fly on the wall at one of their meetings to hear what future great literature they were discussing.  But I repeat I am not a philosopher.  

And that last preceding sentence is interesting since just last night I told my cousin, more like a brother, Jack Terry, that the three greatest influences on my writing and thinking in academic world were all philosphers, Robert "Bob" Snyder, P. J. Laska, and Mac Luckey.  But none of them was capable of making a philosopher of me and I suspect that all three often attempted to remodel other sow's ears into silk purses.  If you have already read "The Chronicles Of Narnia", "The Space Trilogy", and "Mere Christianity" and want to tackle a rarely read book by C. S. Lewis, this is the one for you and I hope you are able to find a copy as cheaply as I did.  I suppose I must have gotten my half dollar out of it since it did motivate me to write another blog post.