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Is ethical progress possible?

by Simon Longstaff

I am regularly asked whether or not I believe that the world is becoming more ethical over time. In the discussion that ensues it emerges that a number of different questions are being rolled into one. For example, people want to know how ethical progress might be identified and measured and, at an even deeper level, whether or not progress of this kind is even possible.

Those who ask the question are not driven by intellectual curiosity. For the most part their interest flows from a feeling that there is a desirable state of affairs to which the world ought to be heading.

This central question about the actuality or even the possibility of ethical advancement may not have always been asked. In times past the very idea of 'progress' would have seemed foreign. For instance, in the agrarian society of the Middle Ages life in much of the world was regulated by cycles: the heavens revolved around the earth and the hierarchies of the social order were established by a continuation of fate and the mandate of heaven. Yet even at a time when the 'arrow of progress' was yet to take flight, there was still a belief in the possibility of a better world, if not in this life then in the next, in which all wrongs would be made right.

Whatever idea of progress might have been held in the past, contemporary society has embraced the idea of progressive change as more or less a given. True, the acceptance of constant and rapid change is often a source of threat, anger and resentment. Even so, what makes the exposure to uncertainly bearable is the promise that in the end life will be better. This promise of progress in the human condition is embedded at the heart of many modern institutions. It animates democratic politics, it is offered as the final justification for the market economy, it tempers popular suspicion of innovations and discoveries at the leading edges of science and technology.

Given this, the question about ethical progress should be expected. However, there is another factor that often lies behind the question. This factor is a growing public disquiet about the plight of the world. The modern media confronts us with a daily dose of the world's misery. In the midst of all the froth and bubble of modern life's distractions, we find starving children, families broken by war, slavery, torture, exploitation and abuse of a degree most horrible. Who should be surprised that, exposed to such things, people should question the extent to which the world has enjoyed ethical progress?

So how might one begin to answer the central question?

Two dimensions of progress come to mind. First, one might seek to assess the extent to which individuals and organisations have become more reflective. That is, one might ask, “has there been an increase in the extent and degree to which people ask the central question of ethics – what ought one to do?”.

It is difficult to give a definitive answer to this question. Perhaps the best that can be offered is an impression. To my mind, much of the world remains in the thrall of unthinking custom and practice. Far too much is still done as a matter of habit and without any conscious regard for acting in a way informed by an explicit framework of value and principles.

Yet as I write this reflection, change in this environment is taking place as a result of a series of tragic events that culminated in that moment when terrorists attacked the United States on 11 September 2001. One consequence of that event and all that has followed has been a re-examination of policies, practices and relationships that constitute the contemporary world. It is not possible to say how deep or prolonged the questioning will be. However, to the extent that people become attuned to the task of examining the lives we lead, so the world progresses on the ethical front.

The second index of ethical progress that I would offer is the extent to which the 'circle of ethical concern' has expanded. History is replete with examples of cruel and abhorrent behaviour by individuals who would never harm the hair of a family member or one of 'their own'. For example, we might ask how the men who wrote and signed the American Declaration of Independence could continue to hold their fellow human beings in the bonds of slavery. In the end, many would be forced to explain that the slaves they kept were, to them, less fully human than those who owned them. That is, they would have been making the claim that slaves fell outside their 'circle of concern', that they were not of an ethical status sufficient to enjoy a full regard for their interests, cares and concerns. Slave owners were often appalled at cruelty to slaves.

However, this concern was often like that felt in relation to cruelty to animals. The point is that unless you recognise another being as a fully-fledged person with an ethical status equivalent to your own, then you cannot recognise the depth of the cruelty that you might do to them by enslaving or torturing them.

Ethical progress can therefore be measured by the extent to which there has been an increase in our awareness of what has been called the 'fundamental dignity' of all human beings as persons. It seems to me that although there is a long way to go in this direction – especially when assessed on a global scale – there is evidence of considerable progress over time. Even if we focus on the limited case of a country like Australia, we can see that there has been, over time, an expansion in our consciousness about the ethical status of individuals – irrespective of race, gender, sexual orientation and so on.

So, when asked about ethical progress I tend to give a cautiously optimistic assessment. I think things are obviously getting better. Unfortunately progress is often punctuated by the most appalling setbacks. Fortunately, tragic reversals frequently provide the impetus to move on – to engage in reflection, to expand our circle of concern.

The process of moving forwards in a halting fashion is neither easy to experience nor sustain. Doubts about the possibility of progress often crowd out a deep human inclination to live genuinely good lives (no matter how difficult to define).

St James Ethics Centre exists, at one level, to provide practical assistance to individuals and organisations engaging with such issues. We also hope to prompt people to examine questions that might otherwise have seemed settled. Beyond this we try to stand for the possibility of ethical progress as a hope worth holding and a goal worth pursuing.

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