Untimed

The problem with the idea that the moral failures of people in the past were the result of their negligence in understanding the self-evident moral principles that were present (although often not widely held) in their world is that it presumes that today is the end of moral history; or at least a history with any clarity. Either today's moral viewpoints become the indisputable, universal, and eternal strictures that somehow eluded the whole of humanity before us, despite having been in plain sight, or we somehow have the misfortune of encountering hidden moral truths that won't be uncovered until later generations discover them. Both of these options strike me as unlikely; accordingly, judging yesterday by the moral standards of today seems hold past generations to a standard many deny the present should meet, all in the service of the pretense that 50 years from now, the 2020s won't be found as morally wanting as many people today find the 1970s.