Richard Y Chappell🔸 comments on Are we as rigorous in addressing Utilitarianism’s theoretical challenges as we are with its practical implications?

[Richard Y Chappell🔸]

You might like my ‘Nietzschean Challenge to Effective Altruism’:

The upshot: I’ll argue that there’s some (limited) overlap between the practical recommendations of Effective Altruism (EA) and Nietzschean perfectionism, or what we might call Effective Aesthetics (EÆ). To the extent that you give Nietzschean perfectionism some credence, this may motivate (i) prioritizing global talent scouting over mere health interventions alone, (ii) giving less priority to purely suffering-focused causes, such as animal welfare, (iii) wariness towards traditional EA rhetoric that’s very dismissive of funding for art museums and opera houses, and (iv) greater support for longtermism, but with a strong emphasis on futures that continue to build human capacities and excellences, and concern to avoid hedonistic traps like “wireheading”.

P.S. I think you mean to talk about ‘ethical theory’. ‘Metaethics’ is a different philosophical subfield entirely.

[Silvan]

Thanks @Richard Y Chappell🔸 , I truly enjoyed that one (you’re right that all this leans more towards ethical theory or normative ethics than metaethics; my apologies for the slip. I particularly resonated with:

That said, I do think the view contains some under-appreciated insights that are worth taking on board, at least under the remit of “moral uncertainty”. For those concerned about the Repugnant Conclusion, I think perfectionism at least offers a better alternative than bleak “negative” views that deny any positive value to our existence.

Moreover, I find the implicit critique of hedonism extremely compelling, and find that reflecting on Nietzschean perfectionism moves me more strongly towards some form of objective list theory of well-being. I think welfare objectivism is a view that EAs ought to take very seriously, and it especially ought to lead us to want to (i) rule out wireheading and other “cheap” hedonistic futures as involving unacceptable axiological risk, given how poorly such futures score on plausible non-hedonistic views

I completely agree that moving towards an objective list theory may not only be plausible but crucial, given the risks of overlooking the possibility that it may be closer to the truth.

In any case, this is precisely the type of topic and nuance that I find lacking in most EA discussions, I find it surprising that considering such important questions is often not even seen as a possibility.

Are posts like this, then, a rarity within the EA context? Are there any sub-communities, study groups, or institutions that focus seriously on these types of issues? (I assume there aren’t, as you likely would have mentioned them, but I remain surprised)

Additionally, if you have any other references to essays or articles that explore different types of perfectionism as a potential solution to some of the challenges posed by the repugnant conclusion, I would greatly appreciate it .

Thanks again!