The Evolution of Moral Progress: A Biocultural Theory
The Evolution of Moral Progress: A Biocultural Theory
James B. Duke Professor of Philosophy
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Cite
Abstract
The idea of moral progress played a central role in liberal political thought from the Enlightenment through the nineteenth century but is rarely encountered in moral and political philosophical discourse today. One reason for this is that traditional liberal theorists of moral progress, like their conservative detractors, tended to rely on underevidenced assumptions about human psychology and society. For the first time in history, we are developing robust scientific knowledge about human nature, especially through empirical psychological theories of morality and culture that are informed by evolutionary theory. In addition, the social sciences now provide better information about which social arrangements are feasible and sustainable and about how social norms arise, change, and come to shape moral thought and behavior. Accordingly, it is time to revisit the question of moral progress. On the surface, evolutionary accounts of morality paint a pessimistic picture, suggesting that certain types of moral progress are unrealistic or inappropriate for beings like us. In brief, humans are said to be “hard-wired” for rather limited moral capacities. However, such a view overlooks the great plasticity of human morality as evidenced by our history of social and political moral achievements. To account for these changes while giving evolved moral psychology its due, we develop a dynamic, biocultural theory of moral progress that highlights the interaction between adaptive components of moral psychology and the cultural construction of moral norms and beliefs; and we explore how this interaction can advance, impede, and reverse moral progress.
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Front Matter
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Introduction
Why a Theory of Moral Progress Is Needed
Allen Buchanan
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Part I What Is Moral Progress?
Allen Buchanan -
Part II Evolution and the Possibility of Moral Progress
Allen Buchanan-
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Is Evolved Human Nature an Obstacle to Moral Progress?
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5
The Inclusivist Anomaly and the Limits of Evolutionary Explanation
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6
Toward a Naturalistic Theory of Inclusivist Moral Progress
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7
Naturalizing Moral Regression: A Biocultural Account
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8
De-Moralization and the Evolution of Invalid Moral Norms
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4
Is Evolved Human Nature an Obstacle to Moral Progress?
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Part III The Path Traveled and the Way Forward
Allen Buchanan -
End Matter
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