Good and evil without progress

Abstract

This chapter builds a constructive ethic without a shared idea of progress. Ethics based on progress too easily assumes that there is only one problem to be solved and encourages quick rather than thoughtful action. By contrast, an ethics of uncertainty seeks to participate in complex processes and social structures, noting the diversity of human goals and accepting that moral behavior means embracing overlapping goals with an awareness that difficult choices must be made between competing goods. Drawing on philosophical, religious, and post-structuralist ethicists, the chapter emphasizes the importance of open and imperfect processes for moral decision-making in a complex world.