I agree that aggregating suffering of different people is problematic. By necessity, it happens on a rather abstract level, divorced from the experiential. I would say that can lead to a certain impersonal approach which ignores the immediate reality of the human condition. Certainly we should be aware of how we truly experience the world.
However I think here we transcend ethics. We can’t hope to resolve deep issues of of suffering within ethics, because we are somewhat egocentric beings by nature. We see only through our eyes and feel our body. I don’t see that ethics really can adress that level meaningfully, it requires us to abstract from that existential reality.
For me the alternative is a more pragmatic ethical framework.
It acknowledges we are not just ethical beings, but that ethics is important on an interpersonal level.
From that point of view helping more people can be the right thing because we are aware we generally cannot truly resolve others suffering on an individual basis. So we are in effect helping the greater system of society or humanity. In that case there’s no problem helping a group instead of an individual. We are not trying to help “at the root”—which we may only be able to do for ourselves or perhaps people close to us—but contribute to society in a meaningful way. And on that level there’s a practical difference between helping one person or many.
In practice, for me that means I do take effective altruism into account, but also acknowledge its limitations. I’d say everyone does that implicity or explicity.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment. I think your first paragraph captures well why I think who suffers matters. The connection between suffering and who suffers it is to strong for the former to matter and for the latter not to. Necessarily, pain is pain for someone, and ONLY for that someone. So it seems odd for pain to matter, yet for it not to matter who suffers it.
I would also certainly agree that there are pragmatic considerations that push us towards helping the larger group outright, rather than giving the smaller group a chance.
I agree that aggregating suffering of different people is problematic. By necessity, it happens on a rather abstract level, divorced from the experiential. I would say that can lead to a certain impersonal approach which ignores the immediate reality of the human condition. Certainly we should be aware of how we truly experience the world.
However I think here we transcend ethics. We can’t hope to resolve deep issues of of suffering within ethics, because we are somewhat egocentric beings by nature. We see only through our eyes and feel our body. I don’t see that ethics really can adress that level meaningfully, it requires us to abstract from that existential reality.
For me the alternative is a more pragmatic ethical framework. It acknowledges we are not just ethical beings, but that ethics is important on an interpersonal level. From that point of view helping more people can be the right thing because we are aware we generally cannot truly resolve others suffering on an individual basis. So we are in effect helping the greater system of society or humanity. In that case there’s no problem helping a group instead of an individual. We are not trying to help “at the root”—which we may only be able to do for ourselves or perhaps people close to us—but contribute to society in a meaningful way. And on that level there’s a practical difference between helping one person or many.
In practice, for me that means I do take effective altruism into account, but also acknowledge its limitations. I’d say everyone does that implicity or explicity.
Hi bejaq,
Thanks for your thoughtful comment. I think your first paragraph captures well why I think who suffers matters. The connection between suffering and who suffers it is to strong for the former to matter and for the latter not to. Necessarily, pain is pain for someone, and ONLY for that someone. So it seems odd for pain to matter, yet for it not to matter who suffers it.
I would also certainly agree that there are pragmatic considerations that push us towards helping the larger group outright, rather than giving the smaller group a chance.