Great post! I enjoyed reading it and found myself nodding along.
I think you could maybe say more about what follows from your critique. In the beginning, you write this:
I think EAs should care more about debates around which ethical theory is true and why.
You then argue (quite persuasively, IMO) that consequentialism isn’t the only way to conceptualize the option space in ethics.
But you don’t say much about what would change if more EAs became Pluralistic Moral Reductionists (“both consequentialism and Kantianism [or contractualism?] apply/have merits, depending on how we frame the question” – my favored option) or if they entirely adopted a non-consequentialist outlook (where duties to benefit could remain in place).
re how EA considerations would change under different ethical theories: at the end of the piece I gesture towards the idea that a philosophically entrepreneurial EA might work out a system under which the numbers matter for Kantians when enacting the duty of beneficence. This Kantian EA would look a lot like any other EA in caring about maximizing QALYs when doing their charitable giving except that they might philosophically object to deliberately ever inflicting harm in order to help others (though might accept merely foreseen harms). So definitely no murderous organ harvesting or any similar scenario that would have you use people as a means to maximizing utility (obviously not something any EAs are advocating for, but something that straight consequentialism could theoretically require). Conversely (and very speculatively), as I mention in the piece, Kantian EAs might prioritize meat production over the harvesting of animal products as a cause in light of the intent/foresight distinction. And then even Kantianism aside, I think that EAs could potentially make conversations around applied ethics more productive by grounding the conversation in a foundational ethical theory instead of merely exchanging intuition pumps.
Great post! I enjoyed reading it and found myself nodding along.
I think you could maybe say more about what follows from your critique. In the beginning, you write this:
You then argue (quite persuasively, IMO) that consequentialism isn’t the only way to conceptualize the option space in ethics.
But you don’t say much about what would change if more EAs became Pluralistic Moral Reductionists (“both consequentialism and Kantianism [or contractualism?] apply/have merits, depending on how we frame the question” – my favored option) or if they entirely adopted a non-consequentialist outlook (where duties to benefit could remain in place).
Appreciate the kind words!
re how EA considerations would change under different ethical theories: at the end of the piece I gesture towards the idea that a philosophically entrepreneurial EA might work out a system under which the numbers matter for Kantians when enacting the duty of beneficence. This Kantian EA would look a lot like any other EA in caring about maximizing QALYs when doing their charitable giving except that they might philosophically object to deliberately ever inflicting harm in order to help others (though might accept merely foreseen harms). So definitely no murderous organ harvesting or any similar scenario that would have you use people as a means to maximizing utility (obviously not something any EAs are advocating for, but something that straight consequentialism could theoretically require). Conversely (and very speculatively), as I mention in the piece, Kantian EAs might prioritize meat production over the harvesting of animal products as a cause in light of the intent/foresight distinction. And then even Kantianism aside, I think that EAs could potentially make conversations around applied ethics more productive by grounding the conversation in a foundational ethical theory instead of merely exchanging intuition pumps.