Has sermonizing ever in history moved the mean on virtues, for a group larger than a few hundred, for more than 1 generation?
I’m inclined to think any such effect is transient. Persistent effects can be attributed to tech making it easier to do a right thing than a wrong thing.
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I mean, like, the Sermon on the Mount is called that for a reason
whether Christianity in aggregate has moved the actual mean or just the aspirational one is relevant here
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Could argue it's moving virtues shitward this generation, at least for 40%ers.
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Reducing variation around the mean seems more like sermonizing’s function. It makes it easier to do nothing than to do the wrong thing.
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Sermonizing is effective ať changing the beliefs of the sermonizers. It is important to mass movements like communism and Christianity to have people continually publicly espouse their beliefs. “Virtue” is orthogonal and subjective.
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Seems like a straw man argument. No one — especially not religious people—-makes claims like that about “sermonizing” alone. “Sermons” can function as *components* of effective civil rights movements.
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A sermon doesn't move the mean (much); a sermon makes a group more legible to itself.
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