The Abolition of Man Cs Lewis Review Essay Example for Free

The abolition of art object Cs Lewis Review EssayThe abolition of musical composition was written by C.S. Lewis in 1943. It was subtitled Reflections on education with special reference to the teaching of English in the upper forms of schools. C.S. Lewis was born in 1898 and died in 1963 (same day as Robert F. Kennedy). He was a prevarication and non-fiction writer whose most popular non-fiction work was The Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis was a Classicist who agreed philosophically with Plato and Aristotle and also considered himself a Pagan in a World of Apostate Christians. Lewis was also a friend of JRR Tolkien. The abolishment of Man is listed as 7 on the top 200 greatest workings of the 20th Century. In Abolition Lewis writes of two opposing views The World off the grand Book vs. the World of the Tao.Abolition of Man is a short philosophical work about moral education. In Chapter 1 Men Without Chests the Tao is described as a broad generalization of traditional moraliti es of the East and West consisting of Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Confusion, Jewish, Muslim, and Socratic ideologies. The Tao is the sole source of valued judgments and something we toiletnot change otherwise the Tao would cease to exist. inside the Tao judgments atomic number 18 either right or they are wrong. Within the World of the Green Book all valued judgments and morality are subjective. The green Book itself is unfeignedly an English textbook used in English upper advance primary schools. The text of the Green book teaches students that sentences containing the predicate of value are not statements about qualities in their subjects but rather fruitless statements about the speakers own feelings. Lewis believed that this philosophy was out of place in an English text book, no matter of its validity, and progeny to tear the philosophy apart. The Green book states that objects can merit our approval or disapproval. Lewis describes The Mind of Man in a platonic division o f common chord Head- the Center of homophiles intelligenceStomach- The contract of mans desire Chest- The center of mans willLewis argues that removing all sentiments from the mind (as rationalists give to do) produces Men Without Chests. Lewis believes that making valued judgments are an essential part of clear thinking. In Chapter 2, The Way, Lewis hacks out-of-door at all other alternative system of values. Lewis goes on to argue that no one can debunk the Tao. To debunk the Tao and have a defensible position against it, one must invoke it. speckle attempting to debunk the Tao all other systems such as Progressivism, Utilitarianism, and instinct based ethics can be debunked themselves. Debunking the Tao debunks itself Lewis write of other systems. Lewis states that all other systems fall apart among further examination and deal who try to debunk the Tao are trying to substitute some other system for it. In Chapter 2 arbitrary goals of other systems are described as necessa ry, progressive, and efficient. Lewis asks of these systems Necessary for what?Progressing towards what?Affecting what?What are these goals and why are they desirable? The Tao states that certain states of affairs are intrinsically meritorious. To Lewis, Utilitarianism fails because it is a social ethic and that it lacks individual(prenominal) obligation. Instinct based ethics are our moral values that are derived from beast instincts. Lewis asks Do our animal instincts make our morality? Concerning ethics Lewis tells us that ethics are not something that tell us what we real do but rather ethics is about telling us what we OUGHT to do, should do, should have done, ought to have done, and OUGHT to be doing. He goes on to say that basing our ethics on instincts does not make sense and that basing ethics on instincts is basing ethics on what people tell us to do. People say different thingsso do our instincts. Our instincts are at war with each other. There are times in which we sh ould control and quash our instincts and that there is no one great instinct we should obey. In summation, ethics cannot be derived from our instincts.Chapter two ends with Lewis net that the Tao is the sole source of all valued judgment and that nothing is intrinsically evil. All evil is the leave alone of twisting something good and that moral progress is timeless, constant, and unchanging. Lewis referred to chapter one Men without Chests as the present, chapter two The Way as the past, and chapter three The Abolition of Man as the future. The Abolition of man comes in when one tries to exercise the Tao from humanity, because man cannot be man without it. The Tao is a defining characteristic of man, found in no animals, and nowhere else in the universe that we know of. To become a race that rejects the Tao is to become something other than human. I have to admit, The Abolition of Man is one of the hardest reads Ive ever had. I think if there was some way to formulate it and tr anslate some of what Lewis was talking about it could end up being one of the great works of the 21st century. All in all I have probably read this book three times and Im still a bit confused. My take on it is this Lewis describes a normal of right and wrong. There is no grey area of the Tao, it is what is intrinsically good in the universe regardless of which philosophy you choose to follow. By trying to discredit what is intrinsically good you are discrediting yourself as whatsoever argument that stands against what is all good must contain something that is badtherefore it is wrong to even try. morals are not instinctive and instincts themselves, although natural, are not always good just because they are instinctive.