Ethics

What reason do we have to believe that our understanding of morality is better now than it was 200 years ago (as opposed to just different)? What is the standard against which moral progress is gauged?

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Here's a simple-minded answer to this question, but I'm not sure that doesn't mean it's right.

Consider the question whether women should have rights equal to men's. Two centuries ago, this would not widely have been accepted, whereas nowadays it is, at least in Western cultures. So what reason do we have to believe that our understanding of this particular moral question is better than that of our ancestors? That seems just to be the question what reason I have to think I'm right and they were wrong. But that, in turn, just seems to be the question what reason I have to believe that women should have rights equal to men's, and I take myself to have plenty of reason to believe that.

I think if you asked what reason we have to believe that our understanding of the nature of the physical world is better now than it was 200 years ago, I'd have to give pretty much the same answer.

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