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The Abolition of Man

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Skywalker

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Is anyone familiar with C.S. Lewis's essay series "The Abolition of Man"? It's an argument for objective morality, but from a Christian standpoint. Obviously problematic, but my question is: I believe Rand is said to have commented on this book, and these comments are reprinted in the collection of her marginalia. As I can't find a copy of this book and I don't have a credit card to order it, I was wondering if anyone who's read it would be willing to discuss her comments and the book's subject with me.

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  • 2 weeks later...

What C.S. Lewis advocated cannot be done justice in a discussion.

Read Lewis' work.

Identify his conception of power. See what sort of "power" he attributes to the acquisition of knowledge.

Identify the characteristics he attributes to the state of being man.

Some questions to help you grasp the full implications of what he's saying:

When he speaks of "traditional values", what is he talking about? What concept? How does he use that concept?

How does he view the "non-traditionalists"?

What does he regard as "rational"?

How does he view the addition of new knowledge?

What does he regard as "nature"? Does it mean he believes in supremacy of existence or supremacy of consciousness?

Are the things he's claiming as either-or exhaustive? Are there no other possibilities?

What is his concept of value judgements? Tradition? Whim? Something else?

Ultimately, what is C.S. Lewis saying about the impact of knowledge on man?

Unique error to watch out for:

concept-swapping -- Sometimes he'll define two concepts by the characteristics of their opposites and then use it to put something over on the careless reader.

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