abolition of man
Every culture ever known has operated under a system of values. Many varied on exact principles, but most applied the idea of Natural Law. Or, as C.S. Lewis would refer to it in his Abolition of Man, the Tao. In this particular book Lewis discusses the implications that would follow could man overcome this basic value system that has been in place since the development of rational thought. However, paradoxical as his opinion may seem, he holds that to step beyond the Tao is to plunge into nothingness. Simply put, it is his claim that to destroy, or even fundamentally change, man's basic value system is to destroy man himself. Lewis states late in the book that, "They are not men at all. Stepping outside the Tao, they have stepped into the void(64)." The empty "they" that Lewis is referring to those that would seek to move beyond the Tao. Acceptance in the belief that the Tao is the rational contents of everyman, which Lewis asserts openly in the text, is to say that he has moved beyond all that makes him man. Although the idea of overcoming the Tao leading to nothingness in man is somewhat abstract, Lewis explains it in different terms later. He discusses the qualitative value of things be saying, "It is not the greatest of m
as the situation varies, into ever new beauties and dignities odern scientists who feel most sure that the object, stripped of its qualitative properties and reduced to mere quantity, is wholly real(70)." This is to say that it is the Tao that gives man his qualitative properties and hence, to take those away is to take away that which makes him man. This is clearly his meaning when he goes on to say, "The great minds know very well that the object, so treated, is an artificial abstraction, that something of its reality has been lost(71)." If something is not part of the "reality," is it not instead a part of nothing? For even when man talks of intrinsic values and emotions, there is validity in these things simply because they are experienced by someone. To say these things have been experienced gives them substance, whether they can be perceived by the senses or not. It seems as though Lewis is arguing that because the Tao is a qualitative substance inherent to man, to strip that would be the reduction of him into nothing. In the Tao itself, as long as we remain within it, we find It is the very existence of the Tao that lends man his existence. Without it man loses all ability to move forward. Instead, he becomes the branches that die
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 843
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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