I’m planning to write about this book for my blog when it is released. It is an important book which draws on valuable perspectives that are underrepresented in effective altruism.
It is possible (even healthy) to disagree with some aspects of the book while recognizing that all of the authors have valuable things to say, and have over their lifetimes built valuable stores of knowledge to share. This week, more than ever, I think we should recognize the importance of drawing on diverse sources of knowledge to inform altruistic decisionmaking.
On the tone of the book, I wonder what readers make of an article by the author of the introduction to the volume, Prof. Amia Srinivasan? (“The aptness of anger”: https://users.ox.ac.uk/~corp1468/Research_files/jopp.12130.pdf.)This article argues that anger can be an apt response to injustice. More generally, I hope that discussions of this book can move past questions of tone to examine the substance of arguments and the evidence brought forth to support them.
If I had to make one criticism of the book, it would be that the book focuses in many places on short-termist EA projects. It is very hard for critics of EA to keep up with the rapid pace at which the EA movement evolves, particularly given that academic research tends to move slowly. I hope that this feature of the book can be contextualized within an academic publishing system in which it can take many years to bring an edited volume to press, and that readers will do their best to consider how the views expressed in this book might apply to longtermist causes as well.
Thanks Martijn—I really appreciate it! I almost never coauthor because I have discovered that I am a terrible coauthor (my coauthorships never go well and the common denominator is me). Very interested to keep tabs on what you’re writing if you’re willing to share and will try to say something useful.
Hi, David. Thanks for your thoughts here.
I recently wrote a book post (here on the Forum) upon its release. I would really enjoy reading your reflections once you publish them!
Here it is. I did not write a detailed reflection of my own (due to time constraints), but I did want to draw attention to the book so that others might also engage with it.
I wonder what readers make of an article by the author of the introduction to the volume, Prof. Amia Srinivasan?
I only read about half the article and skimmed the rest, but as far as I can see basically every example of anger she mentions is anger that is allied to a political cause she (and likely her readers) support. This seems like cherry picking to me. There are plenty of examples of morally wrong anger, from the petty—the violent drunkard—to the grand—a Hitler or Stalin inciting people to hatred based off perceived historical injustice. Any reasonable evaluation of anger has to take into account the pretty high ex ante probability that anger is clouding your judgement and your cause is unjust. On average I would guess that historically angry people have more typically been in the wrong morally, and the mere fact that someone is angry doesn’t seem like it should be evidence to third parties that they are in the right.
Anger also seems generally harmful because it leads to nursing grievances. At a personal level these seem psychologically unhealthy—my understanding is the most scientifically supported form of therapy, CBT, in part encourages people to stop dwelling on issues, and at a civilization level, we have gained enormously from the triumph of Bourgeois Virtues and productive collaboration over honour culture and endless cycles of vengeance.
All these arguments seem especially true when doing philosophy—maybe anger is appropriate when a burglar breaks into your house, but it is not at all helpful when trying to make a logical argument. Logical arguments are good because there is a strong reason they should tend to push us towards the truth; if we instead reward anger, we encourage an arms race of escalating rage with only negative consequences for the world.
Srinivasan is not focused on the question of whether anger is counterproductive, harmful, or has bad consequences. Srinivasan is explicitly focused on cases where anger may be counterproductive, and asks whether it would be apt.
I’m planning to write about this book for my blog when it is released. It is an important book which draws on valuable perspectives that are underrepresented in effective altruism.
It is possible (even healthy) to disagree with some aspects of the book while recognizing that all of the authors have valuable things to say, and have over their lifetimes built valuable stores of knowledge to share. This week, more than ever, I think we should recognize the importance of drawing on diverse sources of knowledge to inform altruistic decisionmaking.
On the tone of the book, I wonder what readers make of an article by the author of the introduction to the volume, Prof. Amia Srinivasan? (“The aptness of anger”: https://users.ox.ac.uk/~corp1468/Research_files/jopp.12130.pdf.)This article argues that anger can be an apt response to injustice. More generally, I hope that discussions of this book can move past questions of tone to examine the substance of arguments and the evidence brought forth to support them.
If I had to make one criticism of the book, it would be that the book focuses in many places on short-termist EA projects. It is very hard for critics of EA to keep up with the rapid pace at which the EA movement evolves, particularly given that academic research tends to move slowly. I hope that this feature of the book can be contextualized within an academic publishing system in which it can take many years to bring an edited volume to press, and that readers will do their best to consider how the views expressed in this book might apply to longtermist causes as well.
If you want we can write it together here
Thanks Martijn—I really appreciate it! I almost never coauthor because I have discovered that I am a terrible coauthor (my coauthorships never go well and the common denominator is me). Very interested to keep tabs on what you’re writing if you’re willing to share and will try to say something useful.
Hi, David. Thanks for your thoughts here. I recently wrote a book post (here on the Forum) upon its release. I would really enjoy reading your reflections once you publish them!
Glad to hear it! Send me a link?
Here it is. I did not write a detailed reflection of my own (due to time constraints), but I did want to draw attention to the book so that others might also engage with it.
I only read about half the article and skimmed the rest, but as far as I can see basically every example of anger she mentions is anger that is allied to a political cause she (and likely her readers) support. This seems like cherry picking to me. There are plenty of examples of morally wrong anger, from the petty—the violent drunkard—to the grand—a Hitler or Stalin inciting people to hatred based off perceived historical injustice. Any reasonable evaluation of anger has to take into account the pretty high ex ante probability that anger is clouding your judgement and your cause is unjust. On average I would guess that historically angry people have more typically been in the wrong morally, and the mere fact that someone is angry doesn’t seem like it should be evidence to third parties that they are in the right.
Anger also seems generally harmful because it leads to nursing grievances. At a personal level these seem psychologically unhealthy—my understanding is the most scientifically supported form of therapy, CBT, in part encourages people to stop dwelling on issues, and at a civilization level, we have gained enormously from the triumph of Bourgeois Virtues and productive collaboration over honour culture and endless cycles of vengeance.
All these arguments seem especially true when doing philosophy—maybe anger is appropriate when a burglar breaks into your house, but it is not at all helpful when trying to make a logical argument. Logical arguments are good because there is a strong reason they should tend to push us towards the truth; if we instead reward anger, we encourage an arms race of escalating rage with only negative consequences for the world.
Srinivasan is not focused on the question of whether anger is counterproductive, harmful, or has bad consequences. Srinivasan is explicitly focused on cases where anger may be counterproductive, and asks whether it would be apt.