I’ve seen criticisms of effective altruism in which effective altruists have been criticised for supposedly donating a large proportion of their income simply to improve their image and make themselves look better. On that basis, it could be argued that EA should have a closer relationship to Maximum Selflessness, but even then, people could still accuse EAs of “being selfless” in order to improve their image.
On the other hand, if EA were centred around the concept of Maximum Selflessness, it could be perceived as too demanding. But, if the selfish reasons for being an effective altruist are promoted too much, a selfish person may simply get bored after a while and find something else which benefits him or her.
So, a balance should be struck and I think this balance does exist currently in effective altruism. From a utilitarian point of view, I wouldn’t say that EA should ever be all about Maximum Selflessness, because self-benefit along with benefitting others surely means that net happiness or net preferences-satisfied in the world has increased to a greater extent than if one sacrificed everything to benefit others and was then unhappy.
I’ve seen criticisms of effective altruism in which effective altruists have been criticised for supposedly donating a large proportion of their income simply to improve their image and make themselves look better. On that basis, it could be argued that EA should have a closer relationship to Maximum Selflessness, but even then, people could still accuse EAs of “being selfless” in order to improve their image.
On the other hand, if EA were centred around the concept of Maximum Selflessness, it could be perceived as too demanding. But, if the selfish reasons for being an effective altruist are promoted too much, a selfish person may simply get bored after a while and find something else which benefits him or her.
So, a balance should be struck and I think this balance does exist currently in effective altruism. From a utilitarian point of view, I wouldn’t say that EA should ever be all about Maximum Selflessness, because self-benefit along with benefitting others surely means that net happiness or net preferences-satisfied in the world has increased to a greater extent than if one sacrificed everything to benefit others and was then unhappy.