Should we morally judge historical figures by today's moral standards?
Humans Are Evil - History Podcast
English - July 26, 2019 13:06 - 15 minutes - 15.4 MB - ★★★★★ - 12 ratingsHistory Society & Culture Philosophy Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
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Next Episode: "Season Two" coming Sunday September 1st
It is all too tempting to judge those in the past by today's moral norms. Do Abraham Lincoln's racist statements nullify any of his achievements? Should people who did things we nowadays find morally repugnant be condemned when they knew no better? Are any actions intrinsically morally good or bad?
MAIN SOURCES/FURTHER READING
J. D. Velleman – Foundations for moral relativism
M. Fricker - The Relativism of Blame and Williams’s Relativism of Distance
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23772194 https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/dont-judge-works-of-the-past-by-todays-moral-standards