Moral progress is also a matter of opinion. And that is one reason why it’s annoying. I am interested in moral progress as a person or community’s growing abil

Moral progress is also a matter of opinion. And that is one reason why it’s annoying. I am interested in moral progress as a person or community’s growing ability to behave responsibly. But what most people seem to focus on is the colonization of a social order by a different social order. That’s not true moral progress— that’s domination. I roll my eyes not just because I am reacting to a challenge to a norm, but because my norms are as reasonable as anyone else’s. My norms are not second class norms. Every kind of norm is a compromise among competing values. When you challenge any norm you are attempting to cut a Gordian knot— which is cheating. And Alexander got away with it because he held the sword and the Gordians did not.