"The primary goal of most of those who identify themselves as effective altruists is the prevention or alleviation of suffering and premature death resulting from poverty and disease in the areas of the world in which these problems are worst, or affect the greatest number of people. To the best of my knowledge, none of the philosophical critics of effective altruism reject this goal. It is therefore dispiriting to read their criticisms, which often ridicule people who are devoting their lives, often at considerable personal sacrifice, to the achievement of this shared goal, and are often gleeful rather than constructive in their attempts to expose the effective altruists’ mistakes in their choices among means."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Jeff McMahan, "Philosophical Critiques of Effective Altruism", The Philosophers' Magazine, 5 Aug. 2016, pp. 92–99
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Effective_altruism
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
wikipedia:Jeff_McMahan_(philosopher)
2 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by wikipedia:Jeff_McMahan_(philosopher) →
Related Quotes
"One may think that I have harped excessively on the fact that the philosophical critics of effective altruism tend to…"
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then He is not omnipotent. Is He able, but not willing? Then He is male…"
"Intelligence...has quietly stripped from our moral valuations that half-supernatural, half-aesthetic halo which is bu…"
"Matter, being fecund in all attributes, is able also to engender evil. I put aside, therefore, O Asclepios and Ammon,…"
"Some would ask, how could a perfect God create a universe filled with so much that is evil. They have missed a greate…"
"As opposed to most understandings of rules and law, ethics insists on the necessity of our response to others, and th…"
"The contemporary explosion of information—including misinformation—makes intellectual responsibility more needed than…"
"The central thing I have aimed to argue for in this chapter is that once you have met your obligation towards reflect…"
"Englishmen have a strong sense of political responsibility, and a correspondingly weak sense of intellectual responsi…"
"Let us consider the concept of what might be called an "intellectual requirement." We may assume that every person is…"