The Moral Arc: How Science Makes Us Better People Reprint Edition
by Michael Shermer (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars 136 customer reviews
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“This is one of the best recent books that I have read, and it's the one that I expect to re-read most often. It's an honest, clear account of morality and justice that makes those theoretical concepts come alive as ubiquitous real-life choices. In the process of reading it, you'll learn about wrenching moral dilemmas such as paying ransoms to Somali pirates, maintaining nuclear weapons as deterrents, good people becoming Nazis, and the immorality of the Bible and of the Ten Commandments.”
―Jared Diamond, Pulitzer-prize-winning author of the best-selling books Guns, Germs, and Steel, Collapse, and The World until Yesterday
“I suspect that people will be arguing with Michael Shermer's premise before they read a page: ‘The moral arc is bending toward truth, justice, and freedom? Is he hallucinating? Just look at...' In these cynical times, where right and left foresee disaster and despair (albeit for different reasons), Shermer's monumental opus, spanning centuries, nations, and cultures, is bound to provoke debate and open minds. Exactly what an important work of skepticism, science, and reason should do.”
“I suspect that people will be arguing with Michael Shermer's premise before they read a page: ‘The moral arc is bending toward truth, justice, and freedom? Is he hallucinating? Just look at...' In these cynical times, where right and left foresee disaster and despair (albeit for different reasons), Shermer's monumental opus, spanning centuries, nations, and cultures, is bound to provoke debate and open minds. Exactly what an important work of skepticism, science, and reason should do.”
―Carol Tavris, Ph.D., social psychologist and author of The Mismeasure of Woman and coauthor of Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)
“A thrilling and fascinating book, which could change your view of human history and human destiny. If you wanted a sequel to The Better Angels of Our Nature, one which explored all of our spheres of moral progress, not just the decline of violence, this is it.”
“A thrilling and fascinating book, which could change your view of human history and human destiny. If you wanted a sequel to The Better Angels of Our Nature, one which explored all of our spheres of moral progress, not just the decline of violence, this is it.”
―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
“It is difficult to imagine how the arc of morality can bend toward justice without rational examination of the consequences of one's actions. As Michael Shermer passionately describes in this ambitious, thoroughly researched, yet remarkably accessible work of scholarship, the fabric of modern morality derives not from religion, but in large part from secular notions of rational empiricism. This message needs to be shared more broadly for the good our society, and hopefully this book will do just that.” ―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
“Michael Shermer makes the astonishing claim that science, precisely because of its rational, dispassionate, and enlightened attitude towards revealing the truth, has helped to lay the moral groundwork for modern society, pointing the way to a more just and moral world. Instead of being a passive observer to the dance of history and the evolution of ethics, Shermer makes the outrageous claim that science has in fact been one of the principle actors. Bravo, I say.”
―Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist, author of the best seller The Future of the Mind, and Physics of the Future
“Michael Shermer argues that science, reason, and critical thinking come first; these are the ideas that produce stable, peaceful democracies. He documents and assesses society's successes and failures through the troubled history of humankind--and he's relentless. He connects the arc of the rise of reason and science with a country's economic success, and the overall worldwide decline in violence and suppression of our fellow humans, especially women. If you are religious, have a look. Shermer takes your faith to task and celebrates science as a path to the better moral future that citizens everywhere long for.” ―Bill Nye, The Science Guy, CEO, The Planetary Society
“The Moral Arc displays the impressive depth of Michael Shermer's scholarship, wisdom and empathetic humanity, and it climaxes in a visionary flight of futuristic optimism. A memorable book, a book to recommend and discuss late into the night.”
―Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion
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About the Author
Michael Shermer is the author of Why People Believe Weird Things, The Believing Brain, and eight other books on the evolution of human beliefs and behavior. He is the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, the editor of Skeptic.com, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, and an adjunct professor at Claremont Graduate University. He lives in Southern California.
Product details
Paperback: 560 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; Reprint edition (January 26, 2016)
------------------------
More about the author
› Visit Amazon's Michael Shermer Page
Follow
Biography
Dr. Michael Shermer is the Publisher of Skeptic magazine, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, and a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University where he teaches Skepticism 101.
“It is difficult to imagine how the arc of morality can bend toward justice without rational examination of the consequences of one's actions. As Michael Shermer passionately describes in this ambitious, thoroughly researched, yet remarkably accessible work of scholarship, the fabric of modern morality derives not from religion, but in large part from secular notions of rational empiricism. This message needs to be shared more broadly for the good our society, and hopefully this book will do just that.” ―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
“Michael Shermer makes the astonishing claim that science, precisely because of its rational, dispassionate, and enlightened attitude towards revealing the truth, has helped to lay the moral groundwork for modern society, pointing the way to a more just and moral world. Instead of being a passive observer to the dance of history and the evolution of ethics, Shermer makes the outrageous claim that science has in fact been one of the principle actors. Bravo, I say.”
―Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist, author of the best seller The Future of the Mind, and Physics of the Future
“Michael Shermer argues that science, reason, and critical thinking come first; these are the ideas that produce stable, peaceful democracies. He documents and assesses society's successes and failures through the troubled history of humankind--and he's relentless. He connects the arc of the rise of reason and science with a country's economic success, and the overall worldwide decline in violence and suppression of our fellow humans, especially women. If you are religious, have a look. Shermer takes your faith to task and celebrates science as a path to the better moral future that citizens everywhere long for.” ―Bill Nye, The Science Guy, CEO, The Planetary Society
“The Moral Arc displays the impressive depth of Michael Shermer's scholarship, wisdom and empathetic humanity, and it climaxes in a visionary flight of futuristic optimism. A memorable book, a book to recommend and discuss late into the night.”
―Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion
Read less
About the Author
Michael Shermer is the author of Why People Believe Weird Things, The Believing Brain, and eight other books on the evolution of human beliefs and behavior. He is the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, the editor of Skeptic.com, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, and an adjunct professor at Claremont Graduate University. He lives in Southern California.
Product details
Paperback: 560 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; Reprint edition (January 26, 2016)
------------------------
More about the author
› Visit Amazon's Michael Shermer Page
Follow
Biography
Dr. Michael Shermer is the Publisher of Skeptic magazine, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, and a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University where he teaches Skepticism 101.
He is the author of Why People Believe Weird Things, Why Darwin Matters, The Science of Good and Evil, and The Moral Arc. His new book is Heavens on Earth: The Scientific Search for the Afterlife, Immortality & Utopia.
(Photo by Jordi Play)
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4.0 out of 5 stars
136
4.0 out of 5 stars
-------------------------------
Top customer reviews
Brett Williams
3.0 out of 5 starsGood and worthy defense of modernity, not without biasMay 18, 2017
Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase
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.
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Swift
4.0 out of 5 starsDisjointed and Anecdotal. Weakly defended thesis, but interesting at times nevertheless.December 10, 2014
Format: Hardcover|Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )
Michael Shermer has inspired and informed legions of budding critical thinkers both as contributor to and editor of Skeptic (Skeptical Inquirer) magazine and similar publications. More recently he's morphed into a more visible popularizer of a rational worldview through his TV, YouTube and other media appearances. He is everyman's skeptic and the opposite of "the angry atheist." Shermer is a nice guy whose personal quest for truth and clarity is I believe fully reflected in his personality and work. I have the highest admiration for the man, his bravery, his honestly, and his quest and I personally share his skeptical, inquisitive, scientific worldview.
It brings me no joy therefore, to have come to the conclusion that "The Moral Arc" is, if considered as a work promoting a specific thesis, profoundly disjointed and unconvincing. The basic idea, as it were, is that as man becomes more scientific and rational he also necessarily becomes more moral. This is a "grand thesis" that encompasses virtually every aspect of human endeavor, so Shermer's building it up with what are in effect disconnected cherry-picked "data set" (the abolition of slavery over time, enfranchisement, acceptance of gay marriage) building blocks to me is completely unconvincing even if I am inherently sympathetic to the underlying ideas. In many ways, Shermer's anecdotally evidenced thesis embarrassingly mirrors the same sort of flim-flammery that he has elsewhere exposed as the hallmarks of charlatans from astrologers to homeopaths and beyond. Were Shermer's philosophical theorizing more taught and insightful, the whole thing might pass my smell test as an "inductive and reasoned argument towards a semi-important proposition", but, alas, it just doesn't.
At some point in this book, perhaps about where Shermer spends the better part of a page discussing how elephants have been shown to be able to understand human pointing gestures (to a much higher degree of generality than chimpanzees and dogs can), I had to re-look at the cover and ask myself "what, exactly, am I reading here?" The conclusion I came to is this: "The Moral Arc" is a hodgepodge of the well-travelled Shermer's notes from and summaries of a selection of the doubtlessly fascinating lectures, conversations, papers, and books that his hard work and fame have made him privy to over the years. And, even though most adult readers will already be familiar with some of the examples and stories (for example, who of us is not at this point familiar with the Milgram experiment?), others will doubtlessly be new to us. In this newness lies the real value of the book. The "moral arc" theory by contrast seems almost like an afterthought meant to string the examples together. Let me be clear - there very much is good value and good reading in many of the examples. In fact, you can almost pick up the book and start reading at any point to find one.
I am an atheist not because I think that atheism leads to the best of all possible worlds but because I see no credible evidence for god or gods. I am a proponent of rational skepticism and the scientific method because of its descriptive usefulness, not because of its normative possibilities. And while I'd like Shermer's thesis to be true, I also suspect that it's only by dint of historical accident that it might be true. As an atheist, I'd ask the reader to contemplate the full extent of General Omar Bradley's often abbreviated quotation:
"We have men of science, too few men of God. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. The world has achieved brilliance without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner."
Even as an atheist, I can say that Bradley was on to something--not because of his pushing of any particular religious claims, of course, but because he has correctly allowed for the possibility that science and morality might proceed along orthogonal paths. Shermer is not totally blind to this idea, but still the core thesis of "the Moral Arc" basically falls flat because it posits a stronger causal connection than I think the evidence really supports. We're one nuclear bomb in the hands of a madman away from Shermer's argument failing spectacularly and utterly as it won't be a more moral universe if we are all dead.
Conclusion: read it for the examples, not the thesis. For a more challenging and tautly argued thesis advocating for a new "science of morality", see Sam Harris' "the Moral Landscape."
"The Moral Arc" by Michael Shermer: Recommended, but with reservations.
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167 people found this helpful
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Roger
3.0 out of 5 starsI can't help but compare this book to Pinker's Better Angels of Our NatureOctober 21, 2015
Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase
I can't help but compare this book to Pinker's Better Angels of Our Nature. It seems like a shallower and narrower version of it. I really enjoyed the writing on morality and the role of impartiality. The extensive, expanded chapters on race, species, gender and sexual preference equality were overkill.
5 people found this helpful
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Robert D. McConnell
5.0 out of 5 starsThe Best Book of the DecadeAugust 11, 2015
Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase
The most important book I've read in decades: there may be a future for this country yet, although doubtful.
5 people found this helpful
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E. Conrad
4.0 out of 5 starsGood review of Michael Shermer's position.July 10, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
I have read many of Michael Shermer's books and have found all of them to be enlightening. If you have not read him before, then Th Moral Arc would be a good review of the position he takes elsewhere. However, there is not much new in this publication. It was an interesting read, but in many ways a repeat of other works. I do recommend it, but don't feel that you need to rush out and buy it.
One person found this helpful
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(Photo by Jordi Play)
---------------------
4.0 out of 5 stars
136
4.0 out of 5 stars
-------------------------------
Top customer reviews
Brett Williams
3.0 out of 5 starsGood and worthy defense of modernity, not without biasMay 18, 2017
Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase
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.
Read more
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
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Swift
4.0 out of 5 starsDisjointed and Anecdotal. Weakly defended thesis, but interesting at times nevertheless.December 10, 2014
Format: Hardcover|Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )
Michael Shermer has inspired and informed legions of budding critical thinkers both as contributor to and editor of Skeptic (Skeptical Inquirer) magazine and similar publications. More recently he's morphed into a more visible popularizer of a rational worldview through his TV, YouTube and other media appearances. He is everyman's skeptic and the opposite of "the angry atheist." Shermer is a nice guy whose personal quest for truth and clarity is I believe fully reflected in his personality and work. I have the highest admiration for the man, his bravery, his honestly, and his quest and I personally share his skeptical, inquisitive, scientific worldview.
It brings me no joy therefore, to have come to the conclusion that "The Moral Arc" is, if considered as a work promoting a specific thesis, profoundly disjointed and unconvincing. The basic idea, as it were, is that as man becomes more scientific and rational he also necessarily becomes more moral. This is a "grand thesis" that encompasses virtually every aspect of human endeavor, so Shermer's building it up with what are in effect disconnected cherry-picked "data set" (the abolition of slavery over time, enfranchisement, acceptance of gay marriage) building blocks to me is completely unconvincing even if I am inherently sympathetic to the underlying ideas. In many ways, Shermer's anecdotally evidenced thesis embarrassingly mirrors the same sort of flim-flammery that he has elsewhere exposed as the hallmarks of charlatans from astrologers to homeopaths and beyond. Were Shermer's philosophical theorizing more taught and insightful, the whole thing might pass my smell test as an "inductive and reasoned argument towards a semi-important proposition", but, alas, it just doesn't.
At some point in this book, perhaps about where Shermer spends the better part of a page discussing how elephants have been shown to be able to understand human pointing gestures (to a much higher degree of generality than chimpanzees and dogs can), I had to re-look at the cover and ask myself "what, exactly, am I reading here?" The conclusion I came to is this: "The Moral Arc" is a hodgepodge of the well-travelled Shermer's notes from and summaries of a selection of the doubtlessly fascinating lectures, conversations, papers, and books that his hard work and fame have made him privy to over the years. And, even though most adult readers will already be familiar with some of the examples and stories (for example, who of us is not at this point familiar with the Milgram experiment?), others will doubtlessly be new to us. In this newness lies the real value of the book. The "moral arc" theory by contrast seems almost like an afterthought meant to string the examples together. Let me be clear - there very much is good value and good reading in many of the examples. In fact, you can almost pick up the book and start reading at any point to find one.
I am an atheist not because I think that atheism leads to the best of all possible worlds but because I see no credible evidence for god or gods. I am a proponent of rational skepticism and the scientific method because of its descriptive usefulness, not because of its normative possibilities. And while I'd like Shermer's thesis to be true, I also suspect that it's only by dint of historical accident that it might be true. As an atheist, I'd ask the reader to contemplate the full extent of General Omar Bradley's often abbreviated quotation:
"We have men of science, too few men of God. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. The world has achieved brilliance without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner."
Even as an atheist, I can say that Bradley was on to something--not because of his pushing of any particular religious claims, of course, but because he has correctly allowed for the possibility that science and morality might proceed along orthogonal paths. Shermer is not totally blind to this idea, but still the core thesis of "the Moral Arc" basically falls flat because it posits a stronger causal connection than I think the evidence really supports. We're one nuclear bomb in the hands of a madman away from Shermer's argument failing spectacularly and utterly as it won't be a more moral universe if we are all dead.
Conclusion: read it for the examples, not the thesis. For a more challenging and tautly argued thesis advocating for a new "science of morality", see Sam Harris' "the Moral Landscape."
"The Moral Arc" by Michael Shermer: Recommended, but with reservations.
Read more
167 people found this helpful
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Roger
3.0 out of 5 starsI can't help but compare this book to Pinker's Better Angels of Our NatureOctober 21, 2015
Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase
I can't help but compare this book to Pinker's Better Angels of Our Nature. It seems like a shallower and narrower version of it. I really enjoyed the writing on morality and the role of impartiality. The extensive, expanded chapters on race, species, gender and sexual preference equality were overkill.
5 people found this helpful
Helpful
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Robert D. McConnell
5.0 out of 5 starsThe Best Book of the DecadeAugust 11, 2015
Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase
The most important book I've read in decades: there may be a future for this country yet, although doubtful.
5 people found this helpful
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E. Conrad
4.0 out of 5 starsGood review of Michael Shermer's position.July 10, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
I have read many of Michael Shermer's books and have found all of them to be enlightening. If you have not read him before, then Th Moral Arc would be a good review of the position he takes elsewhere. However, there is not much new in this publication. It was an interesting read, but in many ways a repeat of other works. I do recommend it, but don't feel that you need to rush out and buy it.
One person found this helpful
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