The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity Toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom

Shermer is highly informative, makes solid points, usually with good historical reference for comparison between options for stable society, and provides good data to substantiate (from the standpoint of rigor, very good, from the standpoint of readability, too much - a data appendix might have been warranted).Shermer's point is this: "I argue that most of the moral development of the past several centuries has been the result of secular not religious forces, and that the most important of these that emerged from the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment are science and reason... Further, I demonstrate that the arc of the moral universe bends not merely toward justice, but also toward truth and freedom, and that these positive outcomes have largely been the product of societies moving toward more secular forms of governance and politics, law and jurisprudence, moral reasoning and ethical analysis."Here, here! However, there are times when Shermer's modernity bias comes through. He writes, "For tens of millennia moral regress best described our species..." But laws that sought greater justice go all the way back to Sumer's Ur-nammu ca. 2150 BC, and likely to innovation of the city ca. 3500 BC when living in numbers contained by close quarters demanded it. Morality evolved. It seems to have been accelerated by Enlightenment, not born there. Shermer says, "It is the individual who is the primary moral agent—not the group, tribe, race, gender, state, nation, empire, society, or any other collective—because it is the individual who survives and flourishes, or who suffers and dies...Historically, immoral abuses have been most rampant, and body counts have run the highest, when the individual is sacrificed for the good of the group." The Amish remain my favored example of a true community that fights death by individualism, where it is that very community that provides its members meaning, purpose, and reference, not autonomy. Shermer contradicts himself by condemning all collectives because of the egregious errors of some, while he notes earlier that we can't write off science for what he sees as the error of Nagasaki. And was Hitler the outcome of community or individual fanaticism gone mad?For me, this book will remain a rich source of analysis for comparing Shermer's full embrace of modernity with Chantal Delsol's indictment of Enlightenment's spiritual carnage in her "Icarus Fallen." Somewhere there must be a sustainable middle ground.

While the book's subtitle is "how science makes us better people" there is almost nothing in the book that actually proves that point. The implication is that religion makes people worse. But there is no definition given for religion- all religions fall into the same cesspool- Christianity with ISIS beheaders and the Westboro fanatics. While there are some interesting thoughts and bits of info, there are much better sources available.I am a Christian who makes an effort to read things I know going in that I probably will not agree with. The author's attempt in assessing Christianity is mostly confined to the weirdness found in Leviticus and Exodus, oddities that even devout Bible scholars have trouble with. The Bible covers thousands of years and includes horrendous wars and a great deal of despicable behavior. To the author, that means the Christian God endorses all these things! Of course, that is not true, the Christian God is a source for good.A common tactic of the liberal left is taking present day thinking and projecting it backward in time. Just one example of this is regarding slavery. Your best source for the slavery issue is Thomas Sowell. Because slavery is mentioned in the Bible, that means God endorses it according to Shermer. The fact is that all races have been enslaved and have enslaved others.The word comes about as a derivation of Slav, because so many white Eastern Europeans were enslaved by blacks from Northern Africa (you won't find that fact in any college campustextbooks!) When most of the world in those times had to question where their next meal was coming from, serious steps were taken. If a ruler of a country could enslave the citizens of a neighboring country, he did so, for the benefit of himself and his citizenry. Slavery was unquestioned throughout the world. But the author nonsensically puts the blame for slavery on religion. But why does science go blameless? Did Plato or Newton or Einstein lead the charge on abolishing slavery? No, the leaders were Christians- Wilberforce, Douglas, abolitionists in the US and Martin Luther King.Most topics in the book get similar treatment. While it is science supposedly at the forefront, no mention is made of actual scientists being leaders on gay marriage, or gender confusion or the "mistreatment" by meat processors or any social issues.There are other absurdities in the book such as the idea that Hitler was a German Christian! For all the genocide of Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, etc. there is no emphasis in the book of their atheism.The final chapter is a good one that covers justice and forgiveness. It is a bit of a surprise that topic would be covered here since Christianity is the master when it comes to teaching forgiveness. Your best source of learning here would be Philip Yancey's What's So Amazing AboutGrace. A better book than this one is An Atheist Defends Religion by Bruce Sheiman. Also, to learn about a one-time leader of atheists who "saw the light" read There Is A God by Antony Flew.

The condition ratings are Very ACCURATE! JEG

Somewhat condescending

Great insight and history of how life is truly better now than other time throughout history. We just get bogged down in day to day minutiae and don't realize it.

Never dissapoints

Great book! It is one I have purchased a couple of times to give as a gift to a friend.

Good, thorough review of how humanity has gradually developed a more sophisticated and all-encompassing sense of morality over the course of history, sometimes independent of or in conflict with religious doctrine.

Il y a longtemps que je savais que ce livre était, in effet, un vrai "miracle," dans le correct sens: Rien de surnaturel, seulement ce que l'être humain peut faire.