Excited vs. obligatory altruism

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Further reading

Karnofsky, Holden (2013) Excited altruism, The GiveWell Blog, August 20 (updated 25 July 2016).

Singer, Peter (2015) The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism Is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically, New Haven: Yale University Press, ch. 8.

Excited and obligatory altruism, however, need not be mutually exclusive: one may regard the prospect of improving the lives of others as both a moral obligation and an exciting opportunity. Nor are these two perspectives jointly exhaustive. Nate Soares rejects obligatory altruism because «guilt"guilt and shame are poor motivators, and that self-imposed obligations are often harmful»harmful", but he also rejects excited altruism because «Lives"Lives hang in the balance. The entire future hangs in the balance. To call this an "exciting opportunity"'exciting opportunity' rings false.»"[4]

Even if one thinks that there is ultimately a requirement to help others effectively, the motivation to act on this requirement may derive from a feeling of excitement more than from than a sense of duty. Conversely, some effective altruists may find the sense of duty deeply motivating despite judging that there is ultimately no reason—besides personal inclination—to engage in acts of altruism; Brian Tomasik is one effective altruist who exemplifies this approach.

Holden Karnofsky (Karnofsky 2013; see also Sotala 2014) offers a clear articulation of the excited altruist perspective:[1][2]

Peter Singer (Singer 2015: 93),[3] perhaps the most prominent exponent of obligatory altruism, wonders what would Karnofsky do

Excited and obligatory altruism, however, need not be mutually exclusive: one may regard the prospect of improving the lives of others as both a moral obligation and an exciting opportunity. Nor are these two perspectives jointly exhaustive. Nate Soares rejects obligatory altruism because «guilt and shame are poor motivators, and that self-imposed obligations are often harmful», but he also rejects excited altruism because «Lives hang in the balance. The entire future hangs in the balance. To call this an "exciting opportunity" rings false.» (Soares 2015)[4]

Data about the relative prevalence of excited and obligatory altruism in the effective altruism community is scarce. An informal Facebook poll (n = 68) from 2015 found that 57% of effective altruists viewed EA primarily as an obligation, whereas 43% viewed it primarily as an opportunity (Gordon-Brown 2015).opportunity.[5]

BibliographyRelated entries

Gordon-Brown, Alexander (2015) Effective altruism: duty or opportunity?altruistic motivation, Effective Altruism Facebook Group. | demandingness of morality

  1. ^

    Karnofsky, Holden (2016)(2013) Excited altruism, The GiveWell Blog, August 20 (updated 25 July 25.2016).

  2. ^

    See also Sotala, Kaj (2014) Effective altruism as the most exciting cause in the world, Effective Altruism Forum, September 26.

  3. ^

    Singer, Peter (2015) The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism Is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically, New Haven: Yale University Press.Press, p. 93.

  4. ^

    Soares, Nate (2015) Altruistic motivations, Minding Our Way, August 2.

  5. ^

    Sotala, Kaj (2014)Gordon-Brown, Alexander (2015) Effective altruism as the most exciting cause in the worldaltruism: duty or opportunity?, Effective Altruism ForumFacebook Group, September 26..

    Related entries

    altruistic motivation | demandingness of morality

Applied to Altruistic Motivations 2y ago