Is morality ever evolving, or ever changing?

Question

Example- Can a man or woman who has ever owned a slave be considered a "good person"? Slavery was a normal thing for soooo*** long, and there are no doubt several common practices Americans practice daily that, in a hundred years, will seem ridiculously wrong and stupid(like slavery). 
Yet I doubt many of you see yourselves as bigoted as slave owners. 
So...should we just admit that we are all morally awful? Or see the good in every one, including slave owners?

Bob B · Answer

It's a complex issue that isn't easily answered. I don't think it means we are all evil, nor does it mean everyone is good.

Slavery is a very good example because it's generally (and rightly) considered to be abhorrent and cruel today. In the past, it was normal, and many slave owners were not inherently evil people; many cared about their friends and families. Many even took reasonable care of their slaves as well (many did not, but some did). So it's a tough question with no clear answer.

Similar issues exist today but take different forms. For instance, in the USA, it is considered quite acceptable for doctors to leave sick people to die if they don't have health insurance; there's no obligation for society to step in and help out in that case. In some countries, it would be considered absolutely unacceptable for that to happen, and many doctors consider this part of their moral duty (e.g. in the UK or Australia, everyone gets free healthcare and, in the public system at least, refusing to treat someone because they couldn't pay wouldn't even be considered, it's just considered wrong). Perhaps in a few hundred years we will be asking this question about those cruel Americans who could just stand by and let their compatriots suffer and die. Or maybe not- there's no easy answer.

The only thing that is clear and undeniable is that there is no clear undeniable standard of what counts as good morality.

Anonymous · Answer

Yes. Perhaps populations aren't quite as religious as they were, and more independantly questioning. But in the West the Church set the unchanging moral standards for a considerable length of time. With changing society the Church now follows which has enabled morality to evolve ever more quickly. The change you see is the result of evolution, survival of the most popular!

All hat · Answer

Morality is like communication in that way - the basics remain the same but the actual carrying-out of it change with progress.  You mention slavery in particular - a provocative thing to bring up these days - and one designed to imprint guilt on white people.  We kill animals too.  Slavery and eating are both thousands of years old, and are/were done the world over.  I think a more relevant example would be something like, how do you treat strangers in chat rooms or social media?  Do we pile on when some celebrity is seen through a window picking their nose?  Do we form gangs and terrorize law-abiding citizens, thumbing our noses at the law of the land we live in?