The Abolition of Man
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| - | A fundamental question is whether there is a universal, transcendent definition of evil, or whether evil is determined by one's social or cultural background. [[C. S. Lewis]], in ''[[The Abolition of Man]]'', maintained that there are certain acts that are universally considered evil, such as rape and murder. On the other hand, it is hard to find any act that was not acceptable in some society. Less than 150 years ago the [[United States of America]], and many other countries practiced brutal forms of slavery. The [[Nazism|Nazis]], during [[World War II]], found [[genocide]] acceptable, as did the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] with the [[Nanking Massacre]] and the [[Hutu]] [[Interhamwe]] in the [[Rwandan genocide]]. Today, there is strong disagreement as to whether [[homosexuality]] and [[abortion]] are evils or not. Universalists consider evil independent of culture, and wholly related to acts or intents. Thus, while the ideological leaders of Nazism and the Hutu Interhamwe accepted (and considered it good) to commit genocide, the universally evil act of genocide renders the entire ideology or culture evil. | + | '''''The Abolition of Man''''' is a 1943 book by [[C. S. Lewis]]. It is subtitled "Reflections on education with special reference to the teaching of English in the upper forms of schools," but it actually uses that as a starting point for a defense of objective [[Value theory|value]] and [[natural law]], and 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. |
| + | The book maintained, among other things, that there are certain acts that are universally considered evil, such as [[rape]] and [[murder]]. | ||
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The Abolition of Man is a 1943 book by C. S. Lewis. It is subtitled "Reflections on education with special reference to the teaching of English in the upper forms of schools," but it actually uses that as a starting point for a defense of objective value and natural law, and 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.
The book maintained, among other things, that there are certain acts that are universally considered evil, such as rape and murder.
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