Though I don’t know what the insight was, nor do I know the justification for not revealing it, and even though I currently believe more transparency in the admissions process is probably a good idea given how confused even long-time EAs are—despite all this, I strongly doubt there is anything insidious going on.
And because I had a hard time finding what “government house utilitarianism” meant without being blocked by the paywall of a scholarly article here is probably the most important part found on Henry Sidgewick’s wikipedia article:
Sidgwick is closely, and controversially, associated with esoteric morality: the position that a moral system (such as utilitarianism) may be acceptable, but that it is not acceptable for that moral system to be widely taught or accepted.[17]
I strongly doubt there is anything insidious going on.
That’s not the issue. The issue is not what the organizers of EAG are doing in secret, but that they are doing stuff in secret.
I had a hard time finding what “government house utilitarianism”
The idea behind government house utilitarianism is that there is stuff that is morally acceptable to do in private that is not morally acceptable to do in public. Because if it was done in public, people would know about it, and that would lead to bad consequences. (See here).
Nice. Nothing like some good ol’ fashioned government house utilitarianism to restore your faith in EA.
Though I don’t know what the insight was, nor do I know the justification for not revealing it, and even though I currently believe more transparency in the admissions process is probably a good idea given how confused even long-time EAs are—despite all this, I strongly doubt there is anything insidious going on.
And because I had a hard time finding what “government house utilitarianism” meant without being blocked by the paywall of a scholarly article here is probably the most important part found on Henry Sidgewick’s wikipedia article:
That’s not the issue. The issue is not what the organizers of EAG are doing in secret, but that they are doing stuff in secret.
The idea behind government house utilitarianism is that there is stuff that is morally acceptable to do in private that is not morally acceptable to do in public. Because if it was done in public, people would know about it, and that would lead to bad consequences. (See here).