If you believe this, then in the comments below, please describe a scenario that could have happened, in which we would today believe that the values people had hundreds of years ago were superior to the values they have today. Not a scenario in which some conservative sub-group could believe this; but a scenario in which society as a whole could believe it, and keep on believing it for a hundred years, without changing their values.
And yet for the majority of history most people believed that values were decaying. See, for example, the ancient Greek notion of the Ages of Man, the related Hindu concept of the Four Yugas, or the quote at the top of this article.
A good point, but one could reply by distinguishing two situations, disambiguating the idea that “values are decaying”:
a) A society believes that the past generations were more virtuous, in the sense of behaving more in accordance to virtue (because of better intrinsic self-control, stronger social punishments for evildoers, or whatever reason), while still having in the present the same standards for virtue, only less observed.
b) A society believes that the past generations had substantially different, and better, standards for virtue than the present one.
The Ages of Man and similar historical decline beliefs seem to fit the first situation, while Phil seems to be arguing that the second one is impossible.
And yet for the majority of history most people believed that values were decaying. See, for example, the ancient Greek notion of the Ages of Man, the related Hindu concept of the Four Yugas, or the quote at the top of this article.
A good point, but one could reply by distinguishing two situations, disambiguating the idea that “values are decaying”:
a) A society believes that the past generations were more virtuous, in the sense of behaving more in accordance to virtue (because of better intrinsic self-control, stronger social punishments for evildoers, or whatever reason), while still having in the present the same standards for virtue, only less observed.
b) A society believes that the past generations had substantially different, and better, standards for virtue than the present one.
The Ages of Man and similar historical decline beliefs seem to fit the first situation, while Phil seems to be arguing that the second one is impossible.