Lee Daniel Crocker responded:
>Both of those seem plausible, but I still think the most fundamental
>underlying change is moral belief itself. People believe all kinds of
>crazy things; why is it so hard to accept that they believed any of a
>number of justifications for the common practice of slavery: racial
>inferiority, economic necessity, right of conquest. It is part of our
>mental machinery to de-sensitize ourselves to everyday things.
Perhaps part of what changed was beliefs about "racial inferiority,
economic necessity, right of conquest", but I don't see these at
beliefs about what is moral. If I believe it is moral to enslave
inferior races, and turn against slavery because I learn this race is
not in fact inferior, my moral beliefs have not changed.
Robin D. Hanson hanson@hss.caltech.edu http://hss.caltech.edu/~hanson/