Effective Altruism: Introduction - Essays in Philosophy, Essays (university) of Philosophy

Download Effective Altruism: Introduction - Essays in Philosophy and more Essays (university) Philosophy in PDF only on Docsity! Effective Altruism: Introduction Essays in Philosophy Volume 18, Issue 1Essays in Philosophy 2 | eP1580 Essays in Philosophy Effective altruism is a very new philosophical approach, and the present issue of Essays in philosophy is the first academic volume entirely devoted to this idea. As I and the Centre for Effective Altruism define it, effective altruism is the project of using evidence and reason to figure out how to benefit others as much as possible, and taking action on that basis. On this definition, effective altruism is an intellectual and practical project rather than a normative claim, in the same way that science is an intellectual and practical project rath- er than a body of any particular normative and empirical claims. Its aims are welfarist, impartial, and maximising: effective altruists aim to maximise the wellbeing of all, where (on some interpretation) everyone counts for one, and no-one for more than one. But it is not a mere restatement of consequentialism: it does not claim that one is always obligated to maximise the good, impartially considered, with no room for one’s personal projects; and it does not claim that one is permitted to violate side-constraints for the greater good. Effective altruism is an idea with a community built around it. That community cham- pions certain values that aren’t part of the definition of effective altruism per se. These include serious commitment to benefiting others, with many members of the community pledging to donate at least 10% of their income to charity; scientific mindset, and will- ingness to change one’s mind in light of new evidence or argument; openness to many different cause-areas, such as extreme poverty, farm animal welfare, and risks of human extinction; integrity, with a strong commitment to honesty and transparency; and a collaborative spirit, with an unusual level of cooperation between people with different moral projects. I believe that effective altruism is an important idea for three reasons. First, it’s an idea that should be supported by a very wide variety of moral views. Consequentialism, including utilitarianism, would of course support the idea of using one’s resources to benefit others by as much as possible. But all plausible moral views care about making the world better, impartially speaking; and, given the radical inequality in the world today, they should support increased efforts from middle-class members of affluent countries to make the world better. As the late Derek Parfit noted in a talk about effective altruism, “I don’t think the disagreement between utilitarianism, egalitarianism and prioritarianism makes much difference here, because the stakes are so high, and the difference that you can make is so obvious, that all those views are going to agree.”1 1 Derek Parfit, ‘Reasons, persons, and effective altruism’, talk delivered at Harvard University on April 21, 2015, https://youtu.be/q6glXJ7dVU0