Societies change over time. Democracy has become increasingly widespread, gay rights have become established in some countries, and the environmental movement continues to gain momentum. Do these changes count as moral progress? Is there such a thing? If so, how should we conceptualize it? What are the criteria for measuring moral progress? And what are the main dynamics driving it and the factors blocking it?

These questions receive increasing attention from philosophers, psychologists, biologists and sociologists. THE PROGRESS TALKS is an online forum where ongoing research on moral progress is debated.

Format: ‘Talk and Q&A’ or ‘Research colloquium’ (up to the invited researcher). ‘Talk and Q&A’ sessions consist of a 30-60 min presentation, followed by 15-30 min Q&A. During ‘Research colloquium’ sessions, we will discuss work in progress with our invited researcher. ‘Research colloquium’ meetings are pre-read. Drafts will be uploaded to this website; we will aim to distribute drafts at least one week in advance of each ‘Research colloquium’ meeting.

Location: Online (MS Teams)

Registration: If any of talks in this series (below) sound interesting to you, you can register here (free of charge, of course).

Contact: moralprogresstalks@gmail.com

Program

September 14,
15-16 (CEST)
CANCELLED

Rachell Powell (Boston University)

October 19,
15-16 (CEST)

From is to ought and back: Variability and asymmetry in social inferences from norm information

Cristina Bicchieri (University of Pennsylvania)
Talk and Q&A

November 16,
15-16 (CEST)

TBA

Rahel Jaeggi (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)