My impression is that EAs also often talk about ethical consequentialism when they mean something somewhat different. Ethical consequentialism is traditionally a theory about what distinguishes the right ways to act from the wrong ways to act. In certain circumstances, it suggests that lying, cheating, rape, torture, and murder can be not only permissible, but downright obligatory. A lot of people find these implications implausible.
Ethical consequentialists often think what they do because they really care about value in aggregate. They don’t just want to be happy and well off themselves, or have a happy and well off family. They want everyone to be happy and well off. They want value to be maximized, not distributed in their favor.
A moral theory that gets everyone to act in ways that maximize value will make the world a better place.
However, it is consistent to think that consequentialism is wrong about moral action and to nonetheless care primarily about value in aggregate. I get the impression that EAs are more attached to the latter than the former. We generally care that things be as good as they can be. We have less a stake in whether torture is a-ok if the expected utility is positive. The EA attitude is more of a ‘hey, lets do some good!’ and less of a ‘you’re not allowed to fail to maximize value!’. This seems like an important distinction.
My impression is that EAs also often talk about ethical consequentialism when they mean something somewhat different. Ethical consequentialism is traditionally a theory about what distinguishes the right ways to act from the wrong ways to act. In certain circumstances, it suggests that lying, cheating, rape, torture, and murder can be not only permissible, but downright obligatory. A lot of people find these implications implausible.
Ethical consequentialists often think what they do because they really care about value in aggregate. They don’t just want to be happy and well off themselves, or have a happy and well off family. They want everyone to be happy and well off. They want value to be maximized, not distributed in their favor.
A moral theory that gets everyone to act in ways that maximize value will make the world a better place. However, it is consistent to think that consequentialism is wrong about moral action and to nonetheless care primarily about value in aggregate. I get the impression that EAs are more attached to the latter than the former. We generally care that things be as good as they can be. We have less a stake in whether torture is a-ok if the expected utility is positive. The EA attitude is more of a ‘hey, lets do some good!’ and less of a ‘you’re not allowed to fail to maximize value!’. This seems like an important distinction.