Abolition of Man + Demon in Democracy: A Comparative Analysis — Michael Malarkey

Despite greatly differing backgrounds, both C.S. Lewis and Ryszard Legutko share an educated skepticism towards the “linear progressive” mindset, and all of its inherent flaws and fallacies — many of which, they would assert, have already manifested themselves. Legutko’s upbringing in postwar Poland, a Soviet-satellite at the time, affords him credibility on the matter. To date, he remains a stark and influential critic of Marxism, a doctrine which he feels is alive and well. Lewis, a man raised on the opposite side of the “Iron Curtain,” would surely share this suspicion. If the two had dinner one night, they would raise a glass to a worrisome future, where posterity is shaped by an ever-shrinking class of sanctimonious pedants, hellbent on muting their opposition through ideological conquest. 

Basic similarities considered, The Abolition of Man and The Demon in Democracy differ in their approaches. The former is more abstract, discussing a gradual yet destined evolution of the human psyche. Based mostly on educational trends, Lewis predicts that a waning class of “Conditioners” will eventually lose sight of the natural human value system, able to “choose what kind of artificial Tao they will, for their own good reasons, produce in the Human race” (Lewis 61-2). The latter take focuses more precisely on the mentality of communist leadership, and its seldom-acknowledged presence in contemporary “liberal democracies.” 

This variance in specificity and format, however, does not negate the philosophical agreement which these two intellectuals share, because their conclusions contain remarkable overlap. Lewis and Legutko alike are cynical of power’s impact on human intention, of the vague “progress über alles” outlook, and of the impact these two phenomena will have on subsequent generations. In The Demon in Democracy, Legutko reflects on the toxicity of this state-led progressivism, in which the powerful can deem dissenters simply as “hopelessly parochial… historically outdated, and degenerate” (Legutko 14). If Lewis were alive to read this wise, historically-bolstered quote, I believe he would nod in concurrence.