The Evolution Of Moral Progress

Author : Allen Buchanan
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190868430
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.37/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Evolution of Moral Progress written by Allen Buchanan and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-08 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Evolution of Moral Progress, Allen Buchanan and Russell Powell resurrect the project of explaining moral progress. They avoid the errors of earlier attempts by drawing on a wide range of disciplines including moral and political philosophy, evolutionary biology, evolutionary psychology, anthropology, history, and sociology. Their focus is on one especially important type of moral progress: gains in inclusivity. They develop a framework to explain progress in inclusivity to also illuminate moral regression--the return to exclusivist and "tribalistic" moral beliefs and attitudes. Buchanan and Powell argue those tribalistic moral responses are not hard-wired by evolution in human nature. Rather, human beings have an evolved "adaptively plastic" capacity for both inclusion and exclusion, depending on environmental conditions. Moral progress in the dimension of inclusivity is possible, but only to the extent that human beings can create environments conducive to extending moral standing to all human beings and even to some animals. Buchanan and Powell take biological evolution seriously, but with a critical eye, while simultaneously recognizing the crucial role of culture in creating environments in which moral progress can occur. The book avoids both biological and cultural determinism. Unlike earlier theories of moral progress, their theory provides a naturalistic account that is grounded in the best empirical work, and unlike earlier theories it does not present moral progress as inevitable or as occurring in definite stages; but rather it recognizes the highly contingent and fragile character of moral improvement.

Author : Allen E. Buchanan
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190868414
Total Pages : 441 pages
Book Rating : 4.13/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Evolution of Moral Progress written by Allen E. Buchanan and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Steven Pinker has said that one of the most important questions humans can ask of themselves is whether moral progress has occurred or is likely to occur. Buchanan and Powell here address that question, in order to provide the first naturalistic, empirically-informed and analytically sophisticated theory of moral progress-explaining the capacities in the human brain that allow for it, the role of the environment, and how contingent and fragile moral progress can be.--

Author : Allen Buchanan
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262043742
Total Pages : 292 pages
Book Rating : 4.48/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Our Moral Fate written by Allen Buchanan and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A provocative and probing argument showing how human beings can for the first time in history take charge of their moral fate. Is tribalism—the political and cultural divisions between Us and Them—an inherent part of our basic moral psychology? Many scientists link tribalism and morality, arguing that the evolved “moral mind” is tribalistic. Any escape from tribalism, according to this thinking, would be partial and fragile, because it goes against the grain of our nature. In this book, Allen Buchanan offers a counterargument: the moral mind is highly flexible, capable of both tribalism and deeply inclusive moralities, depending on the social environment in which the moral mind operates. We can't be morally tribalistic by nature, Buchanan explains, because quite recently there has been a remarkable shift away from tribalism and toward inclusiveness, as growing numbers of people acknowledge that all human beings have equal moral status, and that at least some nonhumans also have moral standing. These are what Buchanan terms the Two Great Expansions of moral regard. And yet, he argues, moral progress is not inevitable but depends partly on whether we have the good fortune to develop as moral agents in a society that provides the right conditions for realizing our moral potential. But morality need not depend on luck. We can take charge of our moral fate by deliberately shaping our social environment—by engaging in scientifically informed “moral institutional design.” For the first time in human history, human beings can determine what sort of morality is predominant in their societies and what kinds of moral agents they are.

Author : Dale Jamieson
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780199251452
Total Pages : 410 pages
Book Rating : 4.52/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Morality's Progress written by Dale Jamieson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The summation of nearly three decades of work by a leading figure in environmental ethics and bioethics. The 22 papers are invigoratingly diverse, but together tell a unified story about various aspects of the morality of our relationships to animals and to nature.

Author : Peter Singer
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 190 pages
Book Rating : 4.74/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Expanding Circle written by Peter Singer and published by . This book was released on 1983 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Philip Kitcher
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0197549179
Total Pages : 173 pages
Book Rating : 4.79/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Moral Progress written by Philip Kitcher and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-05-26 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This inaugural volume in the Munich Lectures in Ethics series presents lectures by noted philosopher Philip Kitcher. In these lectures, Kitcher develops further the pragmatist approach to moral philosophy, begun in his book The Ethical Project. He uses three historical examples of moral progress--the abolition of chattel slavery, the expansion of opportunities for women, and the increasing acceptance of same-sex love--to propose methods for moral inquiry. In his recommended methodology, Kitcher sees moral progress, for individuals and for societies, through collective discussions that become more inclusive, better informed, and involve participants more inclined to engage with the perspectives of others and aim at actions tolerable by all. The volume is introduced by Jan-Christoph Heilinger and contains commentaries from distinguished scholars Amia Srinivasan, Susan Neiman, and Rahel Jaeggi, and Kitcher's response to their commentaries.

Author : Allen Buchanan
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190868430
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.37/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Evolution of Moral Progress written by Allen Buchanan and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-08 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Evolution of Moral Progress, Allen Buchanan and Russell Powell resurrect the project of explaining moral progress. They avoid the errors of earlier attempts by drawing on a wide range of disciplines including moral and political philosophy, evolutionary biology, evolutionary psychology, anthropology, history, and sociology. Their focus is on one especially important type of moral progress: gains in inclusivity. They develop a framework to explain progress in inclusivity to also illuminate moral regression--the return to exclusivist and "tribalistic" moral beliefs and attitudes. Buchanan and Powell argue those tribalistic moral responses are not hard-wired by evolution in human nature. Rather, human beings have an evolved "adaptively plastic" capacity for both inclusion and exclusion, depending on environmental conditions. Moral progress in the dimension of inclusivity is possible, but only to the extent that human beings can create environments conducive to extending moral standing to all human beings and even to some animals. Buchanan and Powell take biological evolution seriously, but with a critical eye, while simultaneously recognizing the crucial role of culture in creating environments in which moral progress can occur. The book avoids both biological and cultural determinism. Unlike earlier theories of moral progress, their theory provides a naturalistic account that is grounded in the best empirical work, and unlike earlier theories it does not present moral progress as inevitable or as occurring in definite stages; but rather it recognizes the highly contingent and fragile character of moral improvement.

Author : Alfred Russel Wallace
Publisher : London : Cassell
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 188 pages
Book Rating : 4.00/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Social Environment and Moral Progress written by Alfred Russel Wallace and published by London : Cassell. This book was released on 1913 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : John T. Fitzgerald
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134463014
Total Pages : 430 pages
Book Rating : 4.15/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Passions and Moral Progress in Greco-Roman Thought written by John T. Fitzgerald and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-11-23 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book contains a collection of 13 essays from leading scholars on the relationship between passionate emotions and moral advancement in Greek and Roman thought. Recognising that emotions played a key role in whether individuals lived happily, ancient philosophers extensively discussed the nature of "the passions", showing how those who managed their emotions properly would lead better, more moral lives. The contributions are preceded by an introdution to the subject by John Fitzgerald. Writers discussed include the Cynics, the Neopythagorians, Aristotle and Ovid; the discussion encompasses philosophy, literature and religion.

Author : Robert Nisbet
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351515462
Total Pages : 370 pages
Book Rating : 4.67/5 ( download)

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Download or read book History of the Idea of Progress written by Robert Nisbet and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-12 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The idea of progress from the Enlightenment to postmodernism is still very much with us. In intellectual discourse, journals, popular magazines, and radio and talk shows, the debate between those who are "progressivists" and those who are "declinists" is as spirited as it was in the late seventeenth century. In History of the Idea of Progress, Robert Nisbet traces the idea of progress from its origins in Greek, Roman, and medieval civilizations to modern times. It is a masterful frame of reference for understanding the present world. Nisbet asserts there are two fundamental building blocks necessary to Western doctrines of human advancement: the idea of growth, and the idea of necessity. He sees Christianity as a key element in both secular and spiritual evolution, for it conveys all the ingredients of the modern idea of progress: the advancement of the human race in time, a single time frame for all the peoples and epochs of the past and present, the conception of time as linear, and the envisagement of the future as having a Utopian end. In his new introduction, Nisbet shows why the idea of progress remains of critical importance to studies of social evolution and natural history. He provides a contemporary basis for many disciplines, including sociology, economics, philosophy, religion, politics, and science. History of the Idea of Progress continues to be a major resource for scholars in all these areas.