With daily headlines focusing on war, terrorism and the abuses of repressive governments, and religious leaders frequently bemoaning declining standards of public and private behavior, it is easy to get the impression that we are witnessing a moral collapse.
But I think that we have grounds to be optimistic about the future.
Thirty years ago, I wrote a book called "The Expanding Circle," in which I asserted that, historically, the circle of beings to whom we extend moral consideration has widened, first from the tribe to the nation, then to the race or ethnic group, then to all human beings, and, finally, to nonhuman animals. That, surely, is moral progress.