(There appears to be a substantial and continuing amount of psychological work on this topic; the papers I list here are just a fairly random subset to get you started.)
The only other very directly related resource I can think of is my own presentation on moral circle expansion, and various other short content by Sentience Instituteâs website, e.g. our FAQ, some of the talks or videos. But I think that the academic psychology literature you refer to is very relevant here. Good starting point articles are, the âmoral expansivenessâ article you link to above and âToward a psychology of moral expansiveness.â
Of course, depending on definitions, a far wider literature could be relevant, e.g. almost anything related to animal advocacy, robot rights, consideration of future beings, consideration of people on the other side of the planet etc.
Thereâs some wider content on âmoral advocacyâ or âvalues spreading,â of which work on moral circle expansion is a part:
Yeah, I hope theyâll be mildly useful to random people at random times over a long period :D
Although I also expect that most people theyâd be mildly useful for would probably never be aware they exist, so there may be a better way to do this.
Also, if and when EA coordinates on one central wiki, these could hopefully be folded into or drawn on for that, in some way.
Collection of sources relevant to moral circles, moral boundaries, or their expansion
Works by the EA community or related communities
Moral circles: Degrees, dimensions, visualsâMichael Aird (i.e., me), 2020
Why I prioritize moral circle expansion over artificial intelligence alignmentâJacy Reese, 2018
The Moral Circle is not a CircleâGrue_Slinky, 2019
The Narrowing CircleâGwern, 2019 (see here for Aaron Gertlerâs summary and commentary)
Radical EmpathyâHolden Karnofsky, 2017
Various works from the Sentience Institute, including:
âOur Perspectiveâ
a presentation by Jamie Harris
a presentation by Jacy Reese (the table shown at 10:15 is perhaps especially relevant)
another video by Reese
Extinction risk reduction and moral circle expansion: Speculating suspicious convergenceâAird, work in progress
-Less relevant, or with only a small section thatâs directly relevant-
Why do effective altruists support the causes we do? - Michelle Hutchinson, 2015
Finding more effective causesâMichelle Hutchinson, 2015
CosmopolitanismâTopher Hallquist, 2014
Three Heuristics for Finding Cause XâKerry Vaughan, 2016
The Drowning Child and the Expanding CircleâPeter Singer, 1997
The expected value of extinction risk reduction is positiveâBrauner and Grosse-Holz, 2018
Crucial questions for longtermists: OverviewâMichael Aird (me), work in progress
Mass media
Should animals, plants, and robots have the same rights as you? - Sigal Samuel (for Voxâs Future Perfect), 2019
Academic works
(There appears to be a substantial and continuing amount of psychological work on this topic; the papers I list here are just a fairly random subset to get you started.)
Toward a Psychology of Moral ExpansivenessâCrimston et al., 2018
Moral expansiveness: Examining variability in the extension of the moral worldâCrimston et al., 2016 (my unpolished commentary on this is here) (brief summary here)
Centripetal and centrifugal forces in the moral circle: Competing constraints on moral learning - Graham et al., 2017
Expanding the moral circle: Inclusion and exclusion mindsets and the circle of moral regardâLaham, 2009
Ideological differences in the expanse of the moral circleâWaytz et al., 2019
The Expanding CircleâPeter Singer, 1981
-Less relevant, or with only a small section thatâs directly relevant-
The Better Angels of Our NatureâSteven Pinker, 2011
The moral standing of animals: Towards a psychology of speciesismâCaviola, Everett, & Faber, 2019
I intend to add to this list over time. If you know of other relevant work, please mention it in a comment.
See also this comment, my collection of sources relevant to the idea of âmoral weightâ ,and my collection of evidence about views on longtermism, time discounting, population ethics, etc. among non-EAs.
The only other very directly related resource I can think of is my own presentation on moral circle expansion, and various other short content by Sentience Instituteâs website, e.g. our FAQ, some of the talks or videos. But I think that the academic psychology literature you refer to is very relevant here. Good starting point articles are, the âmoral expansivenessâ article you link to above and âToward a psychology of moral expansiveness.â
Of course, depending on definitions, a far wider literature could be relevant, e.g. almost anything related to animal advocacy, robot rights, consideration of future beings, consideration of people on the other side of the planet etc.
Thereâs some wider content on âmoral advocacyâ or âvalues spreading,â of which work on moral circle expansion is a part:
Arguments for and against moral advocacyâTobias Baumann, 2017
Values Spreading is Often More Important than Extinction RiskâBrian Tomasik, 2013
Against moral advocacyâPaul Christiano, 2013
Also relevant: âShould Longtermists Mostly Think About Animals?â
Thanks for adding those links, Jamie!
Iâve now added the first few into my lists above.
I continue to appreciate all the collections youâve been posting! I expect to find reasons to link to many of these in the years to come.
Good to hear!
Yeah, I hope theyâll be mildly useful to random people at random times over a long period :D
Although I also expect that most people theyâd be mildly useful for would probably never be aware they exist, so there may be a better way to do this.
Also, if and when EA coordinates on one central wiki, these could hopefully be folded into or drawn on for that, in some way.