The Moral Arc
E739166
The Moral Arc is a nonfiction book by science writer Michael Shermer that argues human society has become progressively more moral over time thanks to reason, science, and secular humanism.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Moral Arc canonical | 3 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T8503114 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Moral Arc Context triple: [Michael Shermer, notableWork, The Moral Arc]
-
A.
The Fragility of Goodness
The Fragility of Goodness is a philosophical work by Martha Nussbaum that explores how human vulnerability, luck, and moral conflict shape the pursuit of a good life, especially through readings of ancient Greek literature and philosophy.
-
B.
The Right and the Good
The Right and the Good is a 1930 work of moral philosophy by W. D. Ross that introduces his influential theory of prima facie duties and defends an intuitionist, pluralistic approach to ethics.
-
C.
The Politics of Hope
The Politics of Hope is a collection of essays by historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. that champions liberal democracy and reformist politics in mid-20th-century America.
-
D.
Illusions of Progress
Illusions of Progress is a political and social critique by Georges Sorel that challenges optimistic beliefs in linear social advancement and rational reform.
-
E.
Their Morals and Ours
"Their Morals and Ours" is a 1938 political essay by Leon Trotsky that defends revolutionary socialist ethics against bourgeois morality and critiques Stalinism.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Moral Arc Target entity description: The Moral Arc is a nonfiction book by science writer Michael Shermer that argues human society has become progressively more moral over time thanks to reason, science, and secular humanism.
-
A.
The Fragility of Goodness
The Fragility of Goodness is a philosophical work by Martha Nussbaum that explores how human vulnerability, luck, and moral conflict shape the pursuit of a good life, especially through readings of ancient Greek literature and philosophy.
-
B.
The Right and the Good
The Right and the Good is a 1930 work of moral philosophy by W. D. Ross that introduces his influential theory of prima facie duties and defends an intuitionist, pluralistic approach to ethics.
-
C.
The Politics of Hope
The Politics of Hope is a collection of essays by historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. that champions liberal democracy and reformist politics in mid-20th-century America.
-
D.
Illusions of Progress
Illusions of Progress is a political and social critique by Georges Sorel that challenges optimistic beliefs in linear social advancement and rational reform.
-
E.
Their Morals and Ours
"Their Morals and Ours" is a 1938 political essay by Leon Trotsky that defends revolutionary socialist ethics against bourgeois morality and critiques Stalinism.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf | book ⓘ |
| arguesAgainst |
moral pessimism
ⓘ
the belief that the world is becoming less moral ⓘ |
| author | Michael Shermer ⓘ |
| authorAffiliation |
Skeptic magazine
ⓘ
Skeptics Society ⓘ
linked to:
The Skeptics Society
|
| countryOfOrigin |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| genre |
nonfiction
ⓘ
popular science ⓘ |
| hasAuthorProfession |
science writer
ⓘ
skeptic ⓘ |
| hasTheme |
decline of violence
ⓘ
expansion of rights and freedoms ⓘ growth of tolerance ⓘ relationship between science and morality ⓘ role of reason in ethics ⓘ |
| inspiredBy | the phrase "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice" ⓘ |
| intendedAudience |
general readership
ⓘ
readers interested in science and ethics ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainThesis |
Human society has become progressively more moral over time.
ⓘ
Reason, science, and secular humanism drive moral progress. ⓘ |
| mediaType |
hardcover
ⓘ
paperback ⓘ print ⓘ |
| notableFor | defending the idea of long-term moral progress using empirical data ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 2015 ⓘ |
| publisher | Henry Holt and Company ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Enlightenment
ⓘ
human rights ⓘ liberal democracy ⓘ scientific revolution ⓘ |
| subject |
Enlightenment values
ⓘ
ethics ⓘ moral progress ⓘ morality ⓘ reason ⓘ science and society ⓘ secular humanism ⓘ |
| subtitle | How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom ⓘ |
| supportsView |
moral progressivism
ⓘ
secular humanism ⓘ |
| title | The Moral Arc ⓘ |
| usesMethod |
historical analysis
ⓘ
scientific reasoning ⓘ statistical evidence ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Moral Arc Description of subject: The Moral Arc is a nonfiction book by science writer Michael Shermer that argues human society has become progressively more moral over time thanks to reason, science, and secular humanism.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.