Executive summary: The post provides an extensive bibliography review and commentary on the literature regarding moral progress, covering key books, articles, and perspectives from effective altruists.
Key points:
Buchanan and Powell’s The Evolution of Moral Progress (2018) and Hanno Sauer’s Moral Teleology (2023) offer compelling theories, but have limitations regarding mechanisms and scope of moral progress.
Historical declines in violence per Pinker and rises in standards of living per Galor provide empirical backing for progress, albeit with caveats around risks.
Cultural evolutionists like Henrich shed light on how information flows enable moral norms and cooperation, but overemphasize some factors.
Evaluations are given on dozens of other relevant books and articles, categorized by quality and relevance.
An account is provided of writing by effective altruists on progress, including moral circle expansion, economic growth, social movements, and institutional reform.
Guiding questions are laid out regarding defining moral progress, locating it within philosophy, developing a substantive conception of progress, predicting and securing progress, and more.
Justification is given for the author’s personal fit and motivation for researching moral progress.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, andcontact us if you have feedback.
Executive summary: The post provides an extensive bibliography review and commentary on the literature regarding moral progress, covering key books, articles, and perspectives from effective altruists.
Key points:
Buchanan and Powell’s The Evolution of Moral Progress (2018) and Hanno Sauer’s Moral Teleology (2023) offer compelling theories, but have limitations regarding mechanisms and scope of moral progress.
Historical declines in violence per Pinker and rises in standards of living per Galor provide empirical backing for progress, albeit with caveats around risks.
Cultural evolutionists like Henrich shed light on how information flows enable moral norms and cooperation, but overemphasize some factors.
Evaluations are given on dozens of other relevant books and articles, categorized by quality and relevance.
An account is provided of writing by effective altruists on progress, including moral circle expansion, economic growth, social movements, and institutional reform.
Guiding questions are laid out regarding defining moral progress, locating it within philosophy, developing a substantive conception of progress, predicting and securing progress, and more.
Justification is given for the author’s personal fit and motivation for researching moral progress.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.