Science Fiction and The Abolition of Man

Finding C. S. Lewis in Sci-Fi Film and Television

Mark J. Boone, Kevin C. Neece, Mark J. Boone, Kevin C. Neece, Boone, Neece

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781498232357
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Ethics & Moral Philosophy

The Abolition of Man, C. S. Lewis's masterpiece in ethics and the philosophy of science, warns of the danger of combining modern moral skepticism with the technological pursuit of human desires. The end result is the final destruction of human nature. From Brave New World to Star Trek, from steampunk to starships, science fiction film has considered from nearly every conceivable angle the same nexus of morality, technology, and humanity of which C. S. Lewis wrote. As a result, science fiction film has unintentionally given us stunning depictions of Lewis's terrifying vision of the future. In Science Fiction Film and the Abolition of Man, scholars of religion, philosophy, literature, and film explore the connections between sci-fi film and the three parts of Lewis's book: how sci-fi portrays "Men without Chests" incapable of responding properly to moral good, how it teaches the Tao or "The Way, " and how it portrays "The Abolition of Man."

1

Introduction: Finding C. S. Lewis in Science Fiction Film and Television

by Mark J. Boone

This is not a book about The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis. Nor is this simply another book about science or about film—or even about science fiction film. This is a book about a cluster of related themes found both in science fiction film and in The Abolition of Man. These themes concern science and ethics. For example, some of our themes include the intentional use of technology by some to manipulate others, the unintentional enslavement to technology by its own users, and the complete loss of our humanity through the use of technology. Not all of the themes are negative, however; there are also the themes of the virtuous use of technology and of the continuing relevance of this thing—virtue—in the technological world we live in.

The other authors of this book and I agree that these themes from science fiction film are given elegant expression and a coherent organization in C. S. Lewis’s philosophical masterpiece The Abolition of Man. Put differently, we agree that a number of the claims Lewis makes in the Abolition or Man are given elegant and vivid portrayal in science fiction film and television. That is why we wrote this book: to unite the organization Lewis gives to these ideas with the artistic expression in the best contemporary sci-fi film.

We also wrote this book because we think these ideas are important. They are not important because we agree with them (although most of us at least do tend to agree with them), but for other reasons. They are important because Lewis’s case for them is rather compelling. They are also important because the portrayal of them in science fiction is rather compelling. These two facts suggest a third reason these ideas are important: they just might be true. Some may choose to disagree with these ideas, but if we choose to simply ignore them we do so at our peril.

The time will come to properly explain Lewis’s thesis later on in this introduction. Now I shall state it very briefly. Lewis alleges that modern education has embarked on a project of debunking, rather than teaching, moral truths. Furthermore, Lewis warns that in a society with an increasing scientific knowledge and ability, eventually there will emerge some people who have the power to fundamentally reshape all other people. Since their sense of morality will be one that has resulted from the debunking project—i.e., their sense of morality is that there simply are no genuine moral truths—they will reshape people according to their own whims, rather than according to any moral principles they take to be true. In the end, humankind as we have always known it will cease to exist.

Our thesis, stated briefly, is that the dangers about which Lewis warned us—the dangers of science without belief in objective moral truth—are nicely illustrated in science fiction film and television. For science fiction is that genre of film and television that most often explores the philosophical significance of the technological age. As such, it frequently illustrates the dangerous consequences of pursuing happiness through technological means without also cultivating virtue. These consequences include, but are not limited to, the abolition of man—the destruction or removal of that which makes us human. Science fiction film and television can thus show that the ancient insight on the necessity of virtue for happiness is just as relevant as it always was. More generally and more in keeping with Lewis’s explicit thesis, science fiction film and television can show that basic moral principles matter. Science and technology do not substitute for basic moral principles. Rather, science needs basic moral principles if it is to be of any edifying use—and if it is to avoid getting involved in devastating moral evil. A knife is useful for good in the hands of a surgeon, but for evil in the hands of a murderer. More advanced technology is the same: its moral quality depends on the ends for which it is used, and the way it is used towards those ends. Science fiction, in dealing with imaginative visions of the future, the past, and alien worlds, also deals with futuristic, advanced, and speculative forms of technology, along with speculative uses and consequences of current or—as with steampunk—antiquated technology. Alongside the promise of a better world achieved using scientific know-how and technology, there looms the danger of a worse world achieved through the same means.

This is a threat to which, Lewis feared, and we also fear, our technological culture is not always attuned. This is a cultural problem, and the cultural developments we are considering have their roots in early modern Western culture, so this is where we must begin. The next two sections of this introduction will consider two developments in modern moral philosophy. The first of these developments, illustrated by the philosophers René Descartes and Francis Bacon, is the tendency to use science and technology to attain to happiness. The second development is the loss in the modern world of the notion of moral virtue rooted in human nature, and the eventual rise of the view that moral principles have no meaning. The section after that will summarize Lewis’s response to that view in The Abolition of Man. The section after that will take one recent and very interesting case, J. J. Abrams’s series Fringe, as an example of the use of Lewis as a lens through which to view contemporary science fiction. Lastly, the final section of this introduction will summarize the rest of this book and the various ways in which the other authors have used Lewis to consider science fiction film.

Two brief clarifications before we begin would be helpful. The first is simply that we do not all agree with each other when it comes to interpreting the science fiction films we discuss—or perhaps on much else.

Second, and more importantly, although we the authors have some concerns that involve science, we are not concerned with scientific or technological development as such; rather, we are concerned with cultural and moral developments affecting our attitudes toward science, technology, and virtue. Lewis says in his book that “Nothing I can say will prevent some people from describing this lecture as an attack on science. I deny the charge, of course . . . .”1 It may be that I or the other authors of this book will also be charged with attacking science. We, of course, also deny the charge.

The Birth of Modern Science and the Origins of the Problem

The problem with modern science has some deep roots, with which it is necessary to be familiar. The problem with modern science begins in the modern era of Western philosophy, which was itself in large part a reaction to earlier eras of philosophy: the ancient and medieval. The best way to explain the modern reaction is to present an ethical insight common to all three eras of philosophy: ancient, medieval, and modern. In this section I will first explain this insight and the pre-modern approaches to it. Then I will describe the very different approach taken by the early modern philosophers Descartes and Bacon.

That insight is that we human beings are not happy because we do not have what we desire. We desire health and comfort; we desire to avoid death—both our own and that of our loved ones. We desire to have a stable way of life and control over our possessions. More often than not, we don’t get what we want. When we do get what we want, we can’t control it, and we often find it slipping away. Even when it doesn’t slip away, we worry that it will. In short, our desires do not fit the world; we desire more than the world can offer. Our desires are out of sync with what we can attain.

There are two ways we could try to fix the mismatch between our desires and the world, and thus achieve a stable happiness. On the one hand, we could change our desires to fit what is actually attainable. On the other hand, we could try to find some way of changing the world so that we can get more of what we want from it, in hopes that what is attainable from the world will then be enough to satisfy our desires.

The method of amending our desires to fit what is attainable is that chosen by ancient philosophy and presented in its dominant philosophical traditions: Skepticism, Epicureanism, Stoicism, and Platonism.2 This is also the approach of Christian medieval philosophy. There are, of course, differences between what these traditions regard as actually attainable and their approaches to modifying our desires to fit that reality. One of the biggest differences is between Christianity and Platonism, on the one hand, and the other traditions, on the other hand. The ancient traditions of Skepticism, Epicureanism, and Stoicism recommend desiring less. Platonism and medieval Christianity recommend redirecting our desires from this world to a higher, m...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Contributors
• Chapter 1: Introduction: Finding C. S. Lewis in Science Fiction Film and Television
• Part One: Men without Chests
• Part Two: The Way
• Part Three: The Abolition of Man
• A Very Short Appendix of Recommended Reading