Men Without Chests

Stephen Simmons
AP Englsih 11/Mr. George
10/15/09
"Men Without Chests"

"The schoolboy who reads this passage in The Green Book will believe two propositions: firstly, that all sentences containing a predicate of value are statements about the emotional state of the speaker, and secondly, that all such statements are unimportant"(Lewis 4).

"The operation of The Green Book and its kind is to produce what may be called Men without Chests"(25).

Lewis' argument in the section Men Without Chests is basically that the average student is taught more about subjective value, rather than what should be taught, objective value. Lewis says that denying objective value is like denying something in our belief system of every advanced civilization. Lewis goes on to talk about how many religions in fact have arrived at similar objective values or standards and that when these values or standards are put off or ignored there are no regulators to tell a man to act morally. Ultimately, Lewis is basically arguing that The Green Book has created and taught subjective values and that the wrong ideals and morals in life are the right ones to follow. Students, in addition, lack character (chests)and individuality, in result of this.