| Certainly I think that some things are not terribly likely to be revised. I do not hedge when I do not personally have much doubt about what I am saying. However, my general position, which has been reiterated over and over, is that there is moral progress, and therefore revision over time, which might put matters one had thought settled in a different light, and that in one's own reflections, one might challenge a particular standard or custom, and showing either that an exception can be made, or that it does not have an adequate rationale, in the light of facts and/or the general tenor of morality. How many times do I have to mention these qualifications until they stick? I do feel confident, though, that we are much closer to an objective, or truthful, morality than we were even a hundred years ago, on grounds I have stated before, and that the burden is on those who want to weaken or dismiss this society's most basic values......... |
