“Death in a Shallow Pond”: A new-ish book on the ‘drowning child’ thought experiment and EA
TIL about this book: Death in a Shallow Pond: A Philosopher, A Drowning Child, and Strangers in Need, published September 2025, by David Edmonds.I can’t find it mentioned on the Forum but apologies if I’ve missed it. I haven’t read it, but according to the blurb, it discusses ‘the experiences and world events that led Singer to make his radical case and how it moved some young philosophers to establish the Effective Altruism movement, which tries to optimize philanthropy’.
I found out about the book from this Philosophy Bites podcast. Based on the podcast, I get the impression that Edmonds doesn’t identify as an EA but is overall positive about the movement.
“Death in a Shallow Pond”: A new-ish book on the ‘drowning child’ thought experiment and EA
TIL about this book: Death in a Shallow Pond: A Philosopher, A Drowning Child, and Strangers in Need, published September 2025, by David Edmonds. I can’t find it mentioned on the Forum but apologies if I’ve missed it. I haven’t read it, but according to the blurb, it discusses ‘the experiences and world events that led Singer to make his radical case and how it moved some young philosophers to establish the Effective Altruism movement, which tries to optimize philanthropy’.
I found out about the book from this Philosophy Bites podcast. Based on the podcast, I get the impression that Edmonds doesn’t identify as an EA but is overall positive about the movement.