The Abolition of Man (Chapter 2)

CS Lewis gives a heading to chapter two from Confucius which says: it is upon the Trunk that a gentleman works. Lewis explains his reasoning for choosing this quote on page 44 he says “The rebellion of new ideologies against the Tao is a rebellion of the branches against the tree; if the rebellion could succeed they would find that they would destroy themselves.” Lewis’ purpose is to show that traditional values (the tree) are coming under attack from the branches, which is the rebellion of new ideologies. This brings to mind Jesus’ remarks of the vine and the branches from John 15:5, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. Apart from Jesus man can do nothing, Lewis makes the same point apart from traditional values a man will destroy himself.

Lewis says Tao or traditional morality is the sole source of all value judgments. If one element is rejected then all value must be rejected. Because value is an absolute, you can not have partial value, it’s either all or nothing. The same thing can be said for Jesus, if you reject one part of Jesus’ life then he is not who he says he is and therefore is a liar.

The issue of value in the chapter in my mind is the big idea of what Lewis wants to tell his readers. Without traditional or absolute value you have nothing and ultimately will be destructive to any one who believes so.