Moral animals

by Catherine Wilson

"In Moral Animals, Catherine Wilson develops a theory of morality based on two fundamental premises: first, that moral progress implies the evolution of moral ideals involving restraint and sacrifice; second, that human beings are outfitted by nature with selfish motivations, intentions, and ambitions, that place constraints on what morality can demand of them. Formative claims, she goes on to show, can be understood as projective hypotheses concerning the conduct of realistically-described nonideal agents in preferred fictional worlds. Such claims differ from empirical hypotheses, insofar as the cannot be verified by observation and experiment. Yet many, though not all, moral claims are susceptible of confirmation to the extent that they command the agreement of well-informed inquirers." "With this foundation in place, Wilson turns to a defence of egalitarianism intended to address the objection that the importance of our nonmoral projects, our natural acquisitiveness and partiality,