The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom by Michael Shermer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was an interesting read/listen. Shermer presents a number of arguments to show and explain the apparent correlation between the advance of science and the advance of our moral sensibilities. Having considered Shermer’s arguments I am still not fully convinced that it is the rise of science and reason that is informing and driving the moral insights of society and is the prime mover of ‘bending the moral arc’ as Shermer calls it. We have had science and scientific progress in any number of societies over the course of history; the Chinese and the Arab world are two that come to mind yet there was no corresponding rise in either the standard of living or moral sensibilities which mimic Western society over the past 100 years. While I would agree that science is a necessary condition for moral progress to occur I don’t think that Shermer makes the case that it is a sufficient condition.
secularinthesouth 
Perhaps the correlation is not between advances in science and advances in moral sensibilities but between a heightened awareness of our true insignificance, as a result of more and more rapid advances in science over the past 100 years, and advances in moral sensibilities. An increased awareness of our inconsequentiality in the grand scheme of things could possibly be leading us to behave more morally with one another and with our environment as a way of reducing our vulnerability to one another and to those parts of our environment which we have the power to influence, thus increasing our chances of survival.
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I have read so many posts about the blogger lovers however this article is truly a good piece of writing,
keep it up.
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