How Can Humanity Make Moral Progress?

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Mike Mazza discuss why progress in the realm of human values has stalled in comparison to scientific and technological progress.

Among the topics covered:

The moral progress that has already happened in the last few centuries;
What Ayn Rand thought of the disparity between technological and moral progress;
What signs of moral regress we see today;
What makes progress possible;
How intellectuals have failed to offer the guidance needed for moral progress;
The need to broaden the concept of “morality” to study which moral codes enable progress;
What the content and method of a “progressive” morality would look like;
How Ayn Rand’s own code of ethics embodies these characteristics;
The theological difference between Northern Christians and Southern Christians before the Civil War.

Mentioned in the discussion were Ayn Rand’s essays “What Is Capitalism?” (https://courses.aynrand.org/works/wha..., “The Objectivist Ethics” (https://courses.aynrand.org/works/the...) and “The Moral Basis of Individualism.” Also mentioned were Onkar Ghate’s “Finding Morality and Happiness Without God” (https://newideal.aynrand.org/finding-...) and Ben Bayer’s “Why Progress in Ethics Is Frozen” (https://newideal.aynrand.org/why-scie....

Introduction 0:00:00
0:01:34 Moral progress in recent centuries
0:08:25 Ayn Rand on technological and moral progress
0:13:54 Current signs of moral regress
0:20:40 What makes progress possible
0:25:44 Lack of guidance from intellectuals
0:42:55 Broadening the concept of "morality"
0:48:39 What would a "progressive" morality look like?
0:53:50 How Rand's ethics qualifies as progress
0:58:37 Northern and Southern Christians before the Civil War