I saw the book on display in my local branch library. I am a big fan of the public library, even with its attendent problems. If you do not want to buy the book, borrow it. If reading is too much work, you can find out about the book by browsing online. If you goto Amazon you will find The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity Toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom by Michael Shermer (Henry Holt and Company, 2015) https://www.amazon.com/Moral-Arc-Science-Better-People/dp/1250081327 - And there, you will find a string of back jacket blurbs in praise from:
- Jared Diamond, Pulitzer-prize-winning author of the best-selling books Guns, Germs, and Steel, Collapse, and The World until Yesterday
- Carol Tavris, Ph.D., social psychologist and author of The Mismeasure of Woman and coauthor of Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)
- Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and author of The Blank Slate and The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century
- Lawrence M. Krauss, Foundation Professor and Director of the Origins Project at Arizona State University, and bestselling author of A Universe from Nothing and The Physics of Star Trek
- Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist, author of the best seller The Future of the Mind, and Physics of the Future
- Bill Nye, The Science Guy, CEO, The Planetary Society
- Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion
All of them, of course, are liberals, some we might call progressives. Despite its praise for the market, the book does not mention Ayn Rand at all. But, as I said in my review, I found the content to be consistent with the intention of Atlas Shrugged. You can find other reviews online, of course, some close to the source. "In this book, Dr. Michael Shermer claims that we are living in the most moral period of our species’ history. It is a book about moral progress that demonstrates through extensive data and heroic stories that the arc of the moral universe bends toward truth, justice, and freedom. Of the many factors that have come together over the centuries to bend the arc in a more moral direction, science and reason are foremost. The Scientific Revolution led by Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton was so world-changing that thinkers in other fields consciously aimed at revolutionizing the social, political, and economic worlds using the same methods of science. This led to the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment, which in turn created the modern secular world of liberal democracies, civil rights and civil liberties, equal justice under the law, open political and economic borders, and the expansion of the moral sphere to include more people—and now even animals—as worthy of moral consideration. Epic in scope, The Moral Arc is the Cosmos of human history." -- Shop Skeptic
http://shop.skeptic.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=b162HB "In Dr. Michael Shermer’s latest book, The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom, he claims that we are living in the most moral period of our species’ history. It is a book about moral progress that demonstrates through extensive data and heroic stories that the arc of the moral universe bends toward truth, justice, and freedom. Of the many factors that have come together over the centuries to bend the arc in a more moral direction, science and reason are foremost. The Scientific Revolution led by Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton was so world-changing that thinkers in other fields consciously aimed at revolutionizing the social, political, and economic worlds using the same methods of science. This led to the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment, which in turn created the modern secular world of liberal democracies, civil rights and civil liberties, equal justice under the law, open political and economic borders, and the expansion of the moral sphere to include more people—and now even animals—as worthy of moral consideration. Epic in scope, The Moral Arc is the Cosmos of human history." -- Michael Shermer's own blog: http://www.michaelshermer.com/the-moral-arc/ "… Shermer argues that the rise of trade and rise of literacy through the Industrial Revolution's need for highly educated knowledge workers, has created a "moral Flynn effect" …"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moral_Arc
You can find a précis of each chapter on the book's own website here:
http://moralarc.org/
Prologue: Bending the Moral Arc
Part I: The Moral Arc Explained Chapter 1. Towards a Science of Morality
Chapter 2. The Morality of War, Terror, and Deterrence
Chapter 3. Why Reason Is the Primary Source of Moral Progress
Chapter 4. Why Religion Is Not the Source of Moral Progress Part II: The Moral Arc Applied Chapter 5. A Moral Science of Freedom Rights
Chapter 6. A Moral Science of Women’s Rights
Chapter 7. A Moral Science of Gay Rights
Chapter 8. A Moral Science of Animal Rights Part III: The Moral Arc Amended Chapter 9. Moral Regress and Pathways to Evil
Chapter 10. Moral Freedom and Responsibility
Chapter 11. Moral Justice: Retribution and Restoration
Chapter 12. Protopia: The Future of Moral Progress Index
http://moralarc.org/ The paper by Joseph Henrich and his team was just one data point among many. I latched onto it because it came up here. I would have to dig deeper into the archives for more links, but it is pretty easy to pick Ed Thompson and Dean Michael Gores and search for "nature" (as in human nature) to find some of those. As I recall, Ed Thompson cited university studies with toddlers to show that we have a "natural" sense of "fairness." Henrich and his collaborators tested that claim and found it wanting. But, there, too, if you are interested in knowing the facts, you actually have to read the paper... or at least online reviews of it...
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