@TechReport{iza:izadps:dp16947,
            	author={Jetter, Michael},
            	title={On the Post-Enlightenment Evolution of Moral Universalism},
            	year={2024},
	month={Apr},
            	institution={Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)},
            	address={Bonn},
            	type={IZA Discussion Paper},
            	number={16947},
            	url={https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp16947},
	abstract={Is humanity's circle of moral concern expanding, as often claimed? I explore frequencies of morally universal language in 15m book publications in American English, British English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian from 1800-2000. In each language, morally universal terminology diminished substantially. I then test two prominent hypotheses predicting moral universalism: reason and religion. Reason-based terminology correlates positively with morally universal and morally communal terminology, explaining seemingly contradictory observations of the 20th century. In contrast, communal terminology sub-sides when religious terminology becomes more frequent. These empirical patterns cast doubt on prominent claims of moral universalism expanding.},
	keywords={moral expansiveness;moral universalism;Expanding Circle;reason;religion},
            }