In The Abolition of Man Lewis discusses “Man’s Conquest of Nature.” He asks, “In what sense is …show more content…
“It was but old birds teaching young birds to fly.” (61) The old birds representing the parents and teachers, and the young birds representing the children. The conditioners, also known as the parents and teachers, have been emancipated from the Tao; therefore, their values have changed, and so will the values of future generations. So, what do they base their motives on? The conditioners must choose what kind of artificial Tao they want to produce for the human race. Lewis says, “They know quite well how to produce a dozen different conceptions of good in us. The question is which, if any, they should produce.” (62) Because the men are outside of the Tao they have no guidelines for how they choose to condition; therefore, they can base their conditioning off anything they enjoy whether it is good or bad. The conditioners now base their principals on their impulses which are a product of nature. Therefore, the conditioners are conquered by nature. Showing that not following principles of the Tao leads to destruction of man by