michael_nielsen

Or: our moral knowledge is as fallible and error-ridden as our scientific knowledge, and equally open to & worthy of improvement. Evils are due to specific moral errors (e.g. Slaves aren’t people, but property. X is an inferior race, and should be destroyed. God says to kill Y.)

This is at most a small part of what's going on. In the case of many - my guess is, most - bad acts, the person performing the act knows that it's bad. They don't lack moral knowledge; they just lack the willingness to act on it.

The other quote: "Beauty is to enthuse us for work; work is to raise us up" was also very interesting. (I've never been able to read the Gulag Archipelago: I've started several times, and each time rapidly find it overwhelming, and have to switch.)