Executive summary: The author argues that Effective Altruists (EAs) should adopt Valuism, a philosophy recognizing multiple values, rather than focusing solely on utility, as this single-minded focus can lead to unhappiness, burnout, and may not align with individual’s actual values.
Key points:
Most effective altruists likely intrinsically value things besides maximizing utility, like truth and loved ones’ well-being, so claiming they only value utility is empirically false.
Denying one’s other intrinsic values can lead to burnout.
Without moral realism, it’s incoherent to claim one “should” prioritize utility above all else.
Valuism acknowledges effective altruists’ values of both utility and truth-seeking.
Adopting Valuism may reduce burnout while still dedicating effort to effective altruism.
Valuism avoids awkward implications of ethical monism like valuing strangers over loved ones.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, andcontact us if you have feedback.
Executive summary: The author argues that Effective Altruists (EAs) should adopt Valuism, a philosophy recognizing multiple values, rather than focusing solely on utility, as this single-minded focus can lead to unhappiness, burnout, and may not align with individual’s actual values.
Key points:
Most effective altruists likely intrinsically value things besides maximizing utility, like truth and loved ones’ well-being, so claiming they only value utility is empirically false.
Denying one’s other intrinsic values can lead to burnout.
Without moral realism, it’s incoherent to claim one “should” prioritize utility above all else.
Valuism acknowledges effective altruists’ values of both utility and truth-seeking.
Adopting Valuism may reduce burnout while still dedicating effort to effective altruism.
Valuism avoids awkward implications of ethical monism like valuing strangers over loved ones.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.