I think there’s good evidence against moral progress. Take any example somebody would give of moral progress and you can generally find another society or another era where the same, or at least similar, values were held. The appropriate question for somebody who believes in moral progress is, I think, What is the moral equivalent of a Saturn V rocket or a 747? Technological progress is obvious. I can point to any number of devices we have now that have absolutely no equivalent in history. Arguing that, say, animal welfare in the West is a genuine moral advance in the face of Buddhism and Jainism is, on the other hand, a much more difficult prospect. Perhaps there are arguments for why it’s a genuine advance in the context of Western society but I find it difficult to believe that there’s anything like the moral equivalent of even basic technological advances.
The appropriate question for somebody who believes in moral progress is, I think, What is the moral equivalent of a Saturn V rocket or a 747? Technological progress is obvious.
Bear in mind that the mass adoption of technology often lags well behind the development of the scientific principles it uses. We’re not all flying around in rockets; or even jet planes on a daily basis. Mightn’t we expect something similar from moral progress? The fact that some idealist has proposed a moral principle isn’t the same as it being generally adopted.
The Saturn V rocket is from the ’60s. What sort of moral progress in our society might have reached some sort of critical mass around then? Maybe something to do with this guy or even that guy too? The idea that members of social minorities should expect equal access to public goods, and equal protection against violence, was not a new idea in principle but it was a new implementation in practice (and one still being worked on).
I think there’s good evidence against moral progress. Take any example somebody would give of moral progress and you can generally find another society or another era where the same, or at least similar, values were held.
...right—but go back a bit further and lots of our ancestors were cannibals who bashed each other’s skulls in and ate their brains in victory celebrations. Moral progress is pretty obvious too.
I think there’s good evidence against moral progress. Take any example somebody would give of moral progress and you can generally find another society or another era where the same, or at least similar, values were held. The appropriate question for somebody who believes in moral progress is, I think, What is the moral equivalent of a Saturn V rocket or a 747? Technological progress is obvious. I can point to any number of devices we have now that have absolutely no equivalent in history. Arguing that, say, animal welfare in the West is a genuine moral advance in the face of Buddhism and Jainism is, on the other hand, a much more difficult prospect. Perhaps there are arguments for why it’s a genuine advance in the context of Western society but I find it difficult to believe that there’s anything like the moral equivalent of even basic technological advances.
Bear in mind that the mass adoption of technology often lags well behind the development of the scientific principles it uses. We’re not all flying around in rockets; or even jet planes on a daily basis. Mightn’t we expect something similar from moral progress? The fact that some idealist has proposed a moral principle isn’t the same as it being generally adopted.
The Saturn V rocket is from the ’60s. What sort of moral progress in our society might have reached some sort of critical mass around then? Maybe something to do with this guy or even that guy too? The idea that members of social minorities should expect equal access to public goods, and equal protection against violence, was not a new idea in principle but it was a new implementation in practice (and one still being worked on).
...right—but go back a bit further and lots of our ancestors were cannibals who bashed each other’s skulls in and ate their brains in victory celebrations. Moral progress is pretty obvious too.