In episode 54, we take a look at Effective Altruism. Why has this approach to philanthropy based on utilitarian philosophy gained so many admirers - and so many critics - over the last few years? Including:

-What is Effective Altruism (EA)?

-How is it informing new approaches to philanthropy?

-Why are so many tech philanthropists EA advocates?

-Could the emergence of data-driven, AI approaches to philanthropy put EA in the driving seat?

-What is the historical lineage of Utilitarian thinking?

-What role did religion play in giving birth to the idea that philanthropy needs to be effective?

-How did the Charity Organization Society and the Scientific Philanthropy movements take this idea forward, and are they the intellectual forebears of EA?

-What, if anything, is genuinely new about EA?

-Is EA merely theoretical because it doesn't reflect how philanthropy actually works or what motivates donors?

-Does the focus on outcomes come at the expense of other considerations such as justice, democracy or individual agency?

-Do EA metrics favour short-term, tangible interventions over longer-term campaigns for social change?

-Does EA dictate working within existing structures and systems, rather than driving the reforms to those structures and systems that many believe are needed for real change?

-Does EA lead to a bias against local giving in favour of giving overseas? And can this have unintended consequences in terms of how other perceive us?

-Existential threats and "Pascal's Mugging"

Related Content

EA organisations:

• https://www.effectivealtruism.org/
• https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/
• https://80000hours.org/

The History of Utilitarianism & Rationality in Philanthropy

• "The History of Utilitarianism", Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy
• Peter Singer's seminal paper "Famine, Affluence & Morality"
• Schneewind, J.B. (1996) "Philosophical Ideas of Charity: Some Historical Reflections" in Schneewind (ed) Giving: Western Ideas of Philanthropy
• Roberts, M.J.D. (1998) "Head vs Heart: Voluntary Associations and Charity Organization in England, c. 1700-1850" in Cunningham & Innes (eds) Charity, Philanthropy and Reform: From the 1690s to 1850
• William Rathbone's memoir Social Duties
• Simey, M (1992) Charity Rediscovered: A Study of Philanthropic Effort in 19th Century Liverpool

Criticism of Effective Altruism

• Schambra, W. (2014) "The Emerging Threat of Effective Altruism" in Breeze & Moody (eds) The Philanthropy Reader
• Berger & Penna (2013) "The Elitist Philanthropy of So-Called Effective Altruism" in Stanford Social Innovation Review
• Ashford, E. (2018) "Severe Poverty as an Unjust Emergency" in Woodruff (ed) The Ethics of Giving
• Acemoglu, D. (2015) "The Logic of Effective Altruism", Boston Review
• Dylan Matthews 2015 Vox article "I spent a weekend at Google talking with nerds about charity. I came away … worried."
• Law, Campbell & Gaesser (2019). Biased Benevolence: The Morality of Effective Altruism, journal pre-print on PsyArXiv
• Nick Bostrom's paper on "Pascal's Mugging"
• The chapter on "Criticisms of philanthropy" from my book, which contains a subsection on "telescopic philanthropy"