Discussion on Erik Hoel’s “Why I am not an effective altruist”
Erik Hoel posted the essay Why I am not an effective altruist yesterday that many of you probably already have read. I can’t do it justice in a summary, but it’s a critique against utilitarianism that he argues is the core of EA.
It is a very good post. I tend to agree on the core part, how would you measure effectiveness if not through maximizing utility?
At the same time, Erik Hoel says that EA sort of would work even without utilitarianism, or with a very watered-down version, which he encourages. He also gives EA a lot of credit, so it is not a hit piece.
Interested to hear people’s thoughts on this.
(I have been drawn to utilitarianism my whole adult life, but always got stuck on the seemingly impossible problem of comparing suffering and pleasure. I guess some form of rule utilitarianism is where I ended up. (e.g. don’t kill unless to stop a killing), but it doesn’t completely solve the problem.)
https://erikhoel.substack.com/p/why-i-am-not-an-effective-altruist
Already shared on the EA Forum here: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/PZ6pEaNkzAg62ze69/ea-criticism-contest-why-i-am-not-an-effective-altruist
Ah thanks, I searched for Erik Hoel before posting but it didn’t turn up.