I think freedom is very important as both an end and a means to the pursuit of happiness.
Economic theory posits a deep connection between freedom (both positive and negative) and well-being. When sufficiently rational people are free to make choices from a broader choice set, they can achieve greater well-being than they could with a smaller choice set. Raising people’s incomes expands their choice sets, and consequently, their happiness—this is how GiveDirectly works.
I wonder what a form of effective altruism that focused on maximizing (positive and negative) freedom for all moral patients would look like. I think it would be very similar to the forms of EA focused on maximizing total or average well-being; both the freedom- and well-being-centered forms of EA would recommend actions like supporting GiveDirectly and promoting economic growth. But we know that different variants of utilitarianism have dramatically different implications in some cases. For example, the freedom-maximizing worldview would not endorse forcing people into experience machines.
We can also think of the long-term future of humanity in terms of humanity’s collective freedom to choose how it develops. We want to preserve our option value—our freedom to change course—and avoid making irreversible decisions until we are sure they are right.
This sounds a lot like a version of preference utilitarianism, certainly an interesting perspective.
I know a lot of effort in political philosophy has gone into trying to define freedom—personally, I don’t think it’s been especially productive, and so I think ‘freedom’ as a term isn’t that useful except as rhetoric. Emphasising ‘fulfilment of preferences’ is an interesting approach, though. It does run into tricky questions around the source of those preferences (eg addiction).
Yeah, it is very similar to preference utilitarianism. I’m still undecided between hedonic and preference utilitarianism, but thinking about this made me lean more toward preference utilitarianism.
What do you think is wrong with the current definitions of liberty? I think the concept of well-being is similarly vague. I tend to use different proxies for well-being interchangeably (fulfillment of preferences, happiness minus suffering, good health as measured by QALYs or DALYs, etc.) and I think this is common practice in EA. But I still think that freedom and well-being are useful concepts: for example, most people would agree that China has less economic and political freedom than the United States.
I don’t mind rhetorical descriptions of China as having ‘less economic and political freedom than the United States’, in a very general discussion. But if you’re going to make any sort of proposal like ‘there should be more political freedom!’ I would feel the need to ask many follow-up clarifying questions (freedom to do what? freedom from what consequences? freedom for whom?) to know whether I agreed with you.
Well-being is vague too, I agree, but it’s a more necessary term than freedom (from my philosophical perspective, and I think most others).
Effective Altruism and Freedom
I think freedom is very important as both an end and a means to the pursuit of happiness.
Economic theory posits a deep connection between freedom (both positive and negative) and well-being. When sufficiently rational people are free to make choices from a broader choice set, they can achieve greater well-being than they could with a smaller choice set. Raising people’s incomes expands their choice sets, and consequently, their happiness—this is how GiveDirectly works.
I wonder what a form of effective altruism that focused on maximizing (positive and negative) freedom for all moral patients would look like. I think it would be very similar to the forms of EA focused on maximizing total or average well-being; both the freedom- and well-being-centered forms of EA would recommend actions like supporting GiveDirectly and promoting economic growth. But we know that different variants of utilitarianism have dramatically different implications in some cases. For example, the freedom-maximizing worldview would not endorse forcing people into experience machines.
We can also think of the long-term future of humanity in terms of humanity’s collective freedom to choose how it develops. We want to preserve our option value—our freedom to change course—and avoid making irreversible decisions until we are sure they are right.
This sounds a lot like a version of preference utilitarianism, certainly an interesting perspective.
I know a lot of effort in political philosophy has gone into trying to define freedom—personally, I don’t think it’s been especially productive, and so I think ‘freedom’ as a term isn’t that useful except as rhetoric. Emphasising ‘fulfilment of preferences’ is an interesting approach, though. It does run into tricky questions around the source of those preferences (eg addiction).
Yeah, it is very similar to preference utilitarianism. I’m still undecided between hedonic and preference utilitarianism, but thinking about this made me lean more toward preference utilitarianism.
What do you think is wrong with the current definitions of liberty? I think the concept of well-being is similarly vague. I tend to use different proxies for well-being interchangeably (fulfillment of preferences, happiness minus suffering, good health as measured by QALYs or DALYs, etc.) and I think this is common practice in EA. But I still think that freedom and well-being are useful concepts: for example, most people would agree that China has less economic and political freedom than the United States.
I don’t mind rhetorical descriptions of China as having ‘less economic and political freedom than the United States’, in a very general discussion. But if you’re going to make any sort of proposal like ‘there should be more political freedom!’ I would feel the need to ask many follow-up clarifying questions (freedom to do what? freedom from what consequences? freedom for whom?) to know whether I agreed with you.
Well-being is vague too, I agree, but it’s a more necessary term than freedom (from my philosophical perspective, and I think most others).