Choosing the Right Thing to Do

Chapter 7Doing the Best We Can Do

Reflections on Our Moral Legacy

The Wrongness of Rightness

History’s greatest horrors have been committed in the name of morality. Wars have been waged, pogroms enacted, injustices of every sort justified on the grounds of moral imperative. Might has traditionally made right, and those with the might have often considered it their right to do anything at all to ensure that their perception of rightness prevails.207

The danger of intolerance grows as we become more assured that our viewpoint is the one true answer. When we’re still figuring out where we stand on an issue we tend to be more open-minded. We’re willing to accommodate differing perspectives in an effort to develop our own. We’re less likely to close ...