About the book
Michael Shermer argues that scientific ways of thinking, from abstract reasoning and rationality to empiricism and skepticism, have changed how people perceive morality and moved humanity closer to a more just world. Thinkers from Galileo to Martin Luther King Jr. used scientific techniques on the non-physical world, and Enlightenment theorists applied them to politics, economics and moral philosophy. Shermer credits the rise of trade and literacy with a moral Flynn effect that brought down violent crime, and links the spread of democracy and civil liberties to greater human flourishing. He also criticizes religious justifications once given for slavery and misogyny. The title comes from Martin Luther King Jr.'s line that the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice.
Steven Pinker listed it among Guardian picks to make readers optimists.
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Steven Pinker (Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, author)
On Steven Pinker’s Steven Pinker recommends books to make you an optimist (The Guardian, by Steven Pinker)
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