80,000 Hours Podcast, Episode #145 (Jan 20, 2026)

Christopher Brown on Why Slavery Abolition Wasn’t Inevitable

Host: Rob Wiblin
Guest: Prof. Christopher Leslie Brown, historian, Columbia University
Main Theme:
Exploring whether the abolition of Atlantic slavery was an inevitable moral progression or a highly contingent outcome — and what this means for our assumptions about future moral progress.

Episode Overview

Historian Christopher Leslie Brown, a leading expert on the British Empire and the Atlantic slave trade, challenges the "common sense" notion of slavery abolition as an inevitable result of moral progress. He contends that abolition was highly contingent and unlikely given its economic and historical context. The conversation also delves into the broader question: How and why do successful social and moral progress movements arise, and can we expect further progress "for free"? The discussion holds deep implications for how much optimism—or skepticism—we should apply to future ethical progress on today’s urgent issues.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why Was Slavery Abolition Contingent, Not Inevitable?

• Brown's core claim: After millennia as a norm, slavery's 19th-century decline was not an expected consequence of economic or cultural trends.
• Slavery as Norm: Practiced globally and justified in many forms (Greek, Roman, Islamic, Asian societies).

"Slaving is as old as human history... it was a norm rather than an exception."
— Christopher Brown [01:54]

• Economic Entrenchment: Even as abolitionist sentiment grew, there was virtually no sign of major slaveholder or slaver classes voluntarily giving up the practice.

"There’s no record… of slave traders or slaveholding societies saying that they had enough... Slaving is as old as human history."
— Christopher Brown [01:54]

2. The Rise of Abolitionism: An Unlikely Chain of Contingent Events

• Quakers as Pioneers: British Quakers’ unique religious structure (no clergy, gender egalitarianism, focus on humility) created the first enduring anti-slavery movements.
• Importance of Social Context:
  • In places where slavery wasn't "weight-bearing" (e.g. Pennsylvania or New England, rather than Barbados), challenging it didn't risk upending the whole economy.
  • Divergence even among Quakers: Barbados Quakers (in a slave-dependent society) did not become abolitionist [42:40].
• Political Polarization as Accidental Catalyst:
  • The issue of slavery became ammunition in the political battle over the American Revolution.
  • Colonists invoked "natural rights" to criticize Parliament; opponents threw their slaveholding back at them.
  • Both sides denouncing each other's relationship to slavery inadvertently made anti-slavery a prominent moral issue.

"It had never become a kind of an arrow in the quiver of political debate… by redescribing slavery as the fault of particular groups… it opens up the possibility: it’s the product of human choice."
— Christopher Brown [81:00]

3. Why Awareness Seldom Leads to Action

• Attitudes vs. Action: Moral realizations rarely drive collective change. People live with contradictions—knowing something’s wrong but acting otherwise (e.g., meat eating, homelessness).
• Abolition required more: Social change happened not because moral arguments became obvious, but because acting on those arguments became seen as virtuous and politically advantageous, especially for groups with little material investment in slavery.

"There's really a great distance between our moral intuitions and… our moral actions... It almost never happens that way."
— Christopher Brown [70:48]

4. The Role of Individuals and Movements

• First movers crucial: Figures like Anthony Benezet, Thomas Clarkson, and a cadre of English Quakers were pivotal — without them, momentum may well have stalled.
• Contested “Great Men” narrative: Brown resists the idea that broad public attitudinal shifts would have produced abolition without these individuals’ extraordinary efforts.

"The challenge, if you want to understand how social movements begin, is to try to figure out what moves the first movers."
— Christopher Brown [95:12]

5. Was Abolition Driven by Economic Decline?

• Williams Thesis Critique: Eric Williams argued abolition was due to declining slave profitability post-Industrial Revolution. Brown is skeptical:
  • British and colonial slavery remained very profitable.
  • There are virtually no examples of slaveholders giving up the practice for economic reasons.
  • Abolition often occurred despite elite economic resistance; in Britain, slaveowners were paid for emancipation.

"Abolition and emancipation, from that point of view, did not make economic sense."
— Christopher Brown [120:48] "There is no known instance… where slaveholders decided they were going to liquidate slavery because it was no longer... profitable."
— Christopher Brown [123:42]

6. Was Moral Progress in Values or Democracy Decisive?

• Industrialization and wealth → more compassion? Brown says this is "demonstrably untrue":
  • Wealthy societies have excelled at both creativity and oppression (Roman Empire, Europe’s colonial age).
  • Trends toward greater democracy and representation may help, but aren't surefire determinants.

"I think it's demonstrably untrue… I just, just think that's hopeful... I think I'd go even further and say it's wishful thinking."
— Christopher Brown [134:13]

• Chain Reaction of Movements: Abolition provided a template for other 19th- and 20th-century liberation movements (women's rights, civil rights, LGBT).

"I do think that there is a chain reaction in that certain kinds of changes make other kinds of changes more likely."
— Christopher Brown [167:29]

7. Abolition as “Exceptional” Moral Revolution

• Not easily replicated: For much of human history, no civilization developed a parallel movement to abolish slavery; widespread opposition and legal abolition are thus exceptionally rare.

"To imagine that the entire system could be destroyed requires a degree of imagination and political power… that an individual person… would just never contemplate."
— Christopher Brown [29:11]

• Contingency, Not Conviction: Even institutions with more "enlightened" legal or philosophical ideas (Christianity, natural rights traditions) tolerated or supported slavery for centuries.

"The problem is the empirical point that Christians created slavery in the Americas… the churches were major slave holding institutions."
— Christopher Brown [172:16]

8. Lasting Implications: What Can We Expect for the Future?

• No Guarantee of Progress: We cannot assume ongoing enlightenment or that moral improvements will accelerate as societies get richer or more educated.
  • History is full of regressive turns (Nazis, colonial atrocities).
  • Moral progress, when it happens, is fragile and must be fought for, never taken for granted.

"If you take away the notion of inevitable cultural progress, then what you put in is the necessity of human action, individual and collectively."
— Christopher Brown [175:02]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On why slavery abolition was "crazy" and shocking:

  • "The notion that slavery could have persisted into our current era violates common sense for most readers. It feels so crazy… People generate specific economic and cultural arguments to explain why that feels… wrong."
    — Rob Wiblin [09:56]

• On moral awareness not leading to movement:

  • "A lot of my work… really begins from reflecting on our moral experience in everyday life… you can see that at the political level, but you also see it at the individual level… we walk by [homeless people]… Then we go back to sleep… There's really a great distance between our moral intuitions… and our moral actions."
    — Christopher Brown [70:48]

• On the role of individual pioneers:

  • "Movements start somewhere, and they start with particular actors doing particular things… My conviction… is that you need to understand them in the round, not just as abolitionists, but as people with histories, emotions, personalities… values that… inform the choices they make."
    — Christopher Brown [95:12]

• On abolition as part of British national identity:

  • "There’s no issue around which the British public was more united than opposing the slave trade… It became a… moral stand that you can take that says… that is unquestionably morally right and virtuous, but which has no real consequences in supporting."
    — Christopher Brown [109:32]

• On why progress isn't inevitable:

  • "Sometimes we are cruel in our kindness... the identity that Western Europe acquires as... the part of the world that abolished slavery then becomes the alibi... for colonizing the less developed world…"
    — Christopher Brown [148:24]

• On hope and action:

  • "If you take away the notion of inevitable cultural progress, then what you put in is the necessity of human action… The world gets, to put it crudely, better or worse on the choices we make… not because things are just trending in the right direction."
    — Christopher Brown [175:02]

Timestamps for Major Segments

• Overview & Theme – [00:00–03:00]
• Brown’s Research Interests: Atlantic Slave Trade, Social History – [03:49–07:51]
• Why Slavery Abolition Was Contingent – [09:00–13:00]
• History of Slavery Globally – [15:21–19:23]
• Religious / Quaker Roots of Abolitionism – [32:50–43:27]
• Political Context: American Revolution & ‘Natural Rights’ – [61:39–67:27]
• Role of Individual Pioneers – [89:22–96:52]
• Economic Theories Refuted (Williams Thesis) – [116:04–124:08]
• Are Enlightenment/Education Upward Trends Towards Compassion? – [132:42–138:06]
• Chain Reaction of Movements, Causality Unclear – [144:49–147:07]
• Debate: Inevitable vs. Contingent (Summary Arguments) – [161:44–170:20]
• Role of Christianity, Other Moral Theologies – [170:20–173:24]
• Brown’s Closing Reflection: Sobriety and Hope through Action – [173:44–176:10]

Final Takeaways

• The abolition of slavery as a legal institution in the 19th century was an exceptional, precarious, deeply contingent event, not a predictable result of moral, economic, or technological trends.
• "Moral progress" requires effort, decision, and organizing—by individuals and groups—against powerful forces of inertia and self-interest.
• We should be skeptical of any narrative that assumes humanity is on a one-way, inevitable journey toward greater enlightenment and compassion simply as a byproduct of wealth, technology, or education.
• The rare success of historic movements like abolition are a "call to get to work," not an excuse for optimism by default.

For further reading on the topics discussed, check out Christopher Leslie Brown’s works
Moral Foundations of British Abolitionism and Arming Slaves from the Classical Era to the Modern Age.

Listen to the full episode for even more historical context and nuanced argumentation.