I don’t buy this is a morally or socially significant distinction. Do we really believe that a parallel world Warren, who made a public pledge to give his money away, and fully intended to, but never got around to actually writing a will before he changed his mind, would be significantly less blameworthy, or would escape opprobrium?
Part of my intuition is that the temporal ordering doesn’t matter—if anything it’s better to give sooner—so we should not treat more harshly someone who donated and then stopped than someone who consumed frivolously and then saw the light later in life.
I don’t buy this is a morally or socially significant distinction. Do we really believe that a parallel world Warren, who made a public pledge to give his money away, and fully intended to, but never got around to actually writing a will before he changed his mind, would be significantly less blameworthy, or would escape opprobrium?
Part of my intuition is that the temporal ordering doesn’t matter—if anything it’s better to give sooner—so we should not treat more harshly someone who donated and then stopped than someone who consumed frivolously and then saw the light later in life.