16 July 2015 | Rohan Roberts
“This is one of the best recent books I’ve read, and it’s one that I expect to reread most often.” – Jared Diamond
“A thrilling and fascinating book, which could change your view of human history and human destiny.” – Steven Pinker
“Science can’t, by itself, tell you right from wrong. But there’s no better tool for the purpose than the style of moral philosophy that’s inspired by science, and Michael Shermer is the master of that style.” – Richard Dawkins
Doomsday merchants, peddlers of gloom, and inveterate pessimists, beware Michael Shermer’s latest magnum opus The Moral Arc in which he makes the case that we are living in the most moral period in the history of our species. And it is the experimental methods of science, the analytical reasoning of the scientific method, and the values of the Enlightenment and Age of Reason, that have helped make this happen.
Shermer has been a crusader for reason, science, scepticism, and rationality for several decades. As the editor of Skeptic magazine he has worked tirelessly to disabuse the public about conspiracy theories, superstitions, and miscellaneous woo-woo. In this book he makes the case that the moral universe does indeed bend towards justice and that in general our species is becoming more moral. He demonstrates this with a rigourous focus on scientific data, historical evidence, and painstaking research. His claims are not merely opinions, they are empirically verifiable facts.
Shermer defines moral progress as “improvement in the survival and flourishing of sentient beings” and makes a case that we humans are, in fact, moving toward such an improvement in spite of all the horror stories in mainstream media. Shermer points out that news agencies report what happens and not what doesn’t happen. For instance, we will never see a headline that reads: ANOTHER YEAR WITHOUT NUCLEAR WAR.
For readers who are looking for a sequel to Steven Pinker’s equally fascinating book, The Better Angels of our Nature, Shermer’s latest book is it. He expatiates on the Rights Revolution – how we’ve made massive strides in Civil Rights, Animal Rights, Women’s Rights, Gay Rights, and Children’s Rights. He also elaborates on the idea that liberal democracies, equal justice under law, open political borders, free minds and the free market are making the world better and not worse – contrary to what mainstream media would have us believe. He makes the case that improvements in the domain of morality are evident in many areas of contemporary life: governance, economics, prosperity, health and longevity, slavery, homicide, rape and sexual assault, judicial restraint, judicial equality, and civility. He is also, at the same time, at pains to point out to the reader that better does not equal best. Just because things are better than they were in the past, doesn’t mean we live in the best possible world. There’s lots of room for improvement.
Perhaps what is particularly important about this book is that Shermer points out that one path (among many) to a more moral world is to get people to quit believing in absurdities. Science and reason are the best methods for doing that. Voltaire, the Enlightenment philosopher, once said, “Those who can make you believe absurdities, will make you commit atrocities.”
Filled with compelling stories and replete with fascinating anecdotes, facts, case studies, statistics, and data, this book is an excellent antidote to the message of hate and violence offered by groups like ISIS and is an outstanding counterblast to those who falsely insist the world is on course for a moral apocalypse. Shermer has always been sincere and passionate in his advocacy of science and reason. No more so than in this outstanding book.
