I really enjoyed this series; thanks for writing it!
One piece of stylistic feedback on Anti-Philanthropic Misdirection: I think the piece’s hostile tone—e.g., “Wenar is here promoting a general approach to practical reasoning that is very obviously biased, stupid, and harmful: a plain force for evil in the world”—will make your piece less persuasive to non-EA readers for two reasons. First, I suspect all the italics and adjectives will trigger readers’ bias radars, making people who aren’t already sympathetic to EA approach the piece more critically/less openmindedly than they would have otherwise (e.g., if you had written: “Wenar promotes a general approach to practical reasoning that is both incorrect and harmful”). Second, it reads as hypocritical, since in the piece you criticize “the hostile, dismissive tone of many critics.” (And unless readers have read Wenar’s piece pretty closely and are pretty familiar with EA, they’re not going to be well-positioned to assess whose hostility and dismissiveness are justified.) So, while I understand the frustration, and think the tone is in some sense warranted, I suspect the piece would be more effective at morally redirecting people if it read as more neutral/measured. The arguments speak for themselves.
Thanks, that’s very helpful! I do want my points to be forceful, but I take your point that overdoing it can be counterproductive. I’ve now slightly moderated that sentence to instead read, “Wenar is here promoting a general approach to practical reasoning that is systematically biased (and predictably harmful as a result): a plain force for ill in the world.”
I really enjoyed this series; thanks for writing it!
One piece of stylistic feedback on Anti-Philanthropic Misdirection: I think the piece’s hostile tone—e.g., “Wenar is here promoting a general approach to practical reasoning that is very obviously biased, stupid, and harmful: a plain force for evil in the world”—will make your piece less persuasive to non-EA readers for two reasons. First, I suspect all the italics and adjectives will trigger readers’ bias radars, making people who aren’t already sympathetic to EA approach the piece more critically/less openmindedly than they would have otherwise (e.g., if you had written: “Wenar promotes a general approach to practical reasoning that is both incorrect and harmful”). Second, it reads as hypocritical, since in the piece you criticize “the hostile, dismissive tone of many critics.” (And unless readers have read Wenar’s piece pretty closely and are pretty familiar with EA, they’re not going to be well-positioned to assess whose hostility and dismissiveness are justified.) So, while I understand the frustration, and think the tone is in some sense warranted, I suspect the piece would be more effective at morally redirecting people if it read as more neutral/measured. The arguments speak for themselves.
Thanks, that’s very helpful! I do want my points to be forceful, but I take your point that overdoing it can be counterproductive. I’ve now slightly moderated that sentence to instead read, “Wenar is here promoting a general approach to practical reasoning that is systematically biased (and predictably harmful as a result): a plain force for ill in the world.”