Men with Chests

In the opening of chapter 2 - The Way - Lewis shows how objective values are perceived by a particular part of man's Reason, what's called Practical Reason or the Latin intellectus. To fail to recognize this is to give up the notion of values being "rational" whatsoever. And if this is so, then only one thing can follow... the destruction of the society that accepts the idea. 

An interview with Dr. Markos of Houston Christian University on chapter one of  The Abolition of Man. Markos is a Lewis aficionado. He has multiple books that cover Lewis's writings. For the one most directly related to Abolition , see his book Restoring Beauty.   

In this final episode of Chapter 1 - Men without Chests - we learn what Lewis means by “the chest.” Drawing from Plato, Lewis explains what the harmonious soul looks like. A well-trained chest is essential for the task. Lewis doesn’t shy away from calling our modern predicament as it is. He contrasts the great-souled (magnanimous) man with the type of man being produced - a man who’s been castrate...

As we near the end of Chapter 1, Lewis continues to contrast the educational project of Gaius and Titius with their predecessors. Sages from Western cultures such as Aristotle, and Easter cultures such as Confucius, believed there to be objective value beyond man, and that it was the purpose of education to discover that reality as it is. But Gaius and Titius reject objective value, making man the...

Lewis explores why Gaius and Titius have opted to deny the legitimacy of proper emotional responses. This takes us into the question of what education is for and we see the radical shift Gaius and Titius are making by denying objective value.

C.S. Lewis takes Gaius and Titius to task in Chapter 1 of The Abolition of Man for stripping children of their imagination with neither Gaius and Titius nor the children having awareness of what's been done. While they claim to be doing literary criticism, Gaius and Titius are training children to become "trousered apes" that are unable to discern the proper emotional response to di...

In episode one, we introduce the goals of the show and begin our exploration of what will be the topic of season one, C.S. Lewis's, The Abolition of Man.