Scholars assume the necessity of epistemic progress (EP) for moral progress (MP), where EP involves forming more accurate moral judgments. This is problematic, since we lack the cognitive control necessary to form accurate moral judgments (Klenk & Sauer 2021). Thus, if it is true that EP is necessary for MP, and if it is true that we are naturally bad epistemic agents, then MP is impossible. Here I consider three possible logical relations between EP and MP: (A) EP is necessary and sufficient for MP, (B) EP is necessary but not sufficient for MP, and (C) EP is neither necessary nor sufficient for MP. I argue that (A) cannot account for full MP, while (B) is a promising route if we wish to maintain both the epistemic requirement and the possibility for full MP. Finally, I argue that (C) is the only logical way to dismiss the control requirement. Drawing from Iris Murdoch, I suggest that her account of MP that just is EP is an original as well as a promising way to re-frame the debate in a way that allows to account for our natural lack of cognitive control, without it hindering the possibility of MP.
Cases of societal-level moral progress include the abolition of slavery (Sauer 2023) and the disappearance of harmful traditions such as foot-binding and dueling (Appiah 2011). When it comes to the individual level, we can judge that a person has become a “better” moral agent than she used to be. Imagine a racist person who suddenly stops being racist: if we agree that not being racist is better than being racist, then we can say that this person has morally progressed, even though the change does not directly impact society at large. Now, it is likely that societal and individual moral progress are…
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