I think you’re quite right about this, and I would identify one of the key points of disagreement as cosmopolitanism. I think that post resonated with a lot of people precisely because it highlighted something that everyone kind of knew was an unusual feature of EA arguments, but nobody had quite put their finger on.
(And you yourself say something similar in your comment on that post.)
Cosmopolitanism is quite unconventional, but it’s also difficult to tackle head on, because it often involves a conflict between people’s stated moral views and their behaviour. Lots of people have views that, on the face of it, would make them cosmopolitan, but they rarely act in such a way. That’s partly because the implications can seem very demanding. So paying more attention to cosmopolitan arguments confronts people with a double threat—that of having an increased moral obligation, and that of being shown to be a hypocrite for not having accepted it before.
I could see this aversion just quietly diverting people away from really thinking about cosmopolitan ideas.
I think you’re quite right about this, and I would identify one of the key points of disagreement as cosmopolitanism. I think that post resonated with a lot of people precisely because it highlighted something that everyone kind of knew was an unusual feature of EA arguments, but nobody had quite put their finger on.
(And you yourself say something similar in your comment on that post.)
Cosmopolitanism is quite unconventional, but it’s also difficult to tackle head on, because it often involves a conflict between people’s stated moral views and their behaviour. Lots of people have views that, on the face of it, would make them cosmopolitan, but they rarely act in such a way. That’s partly because the implications can seem very demanding. So paying more attention to cosmopolitan arguments confronts people with a double threat—that of having an increased moral obligation, and that of being shown to be a hypocrite for not having accepted it before.
I could see this aversion just quietly diverting people away from really thinking about cosmopolitan ideas.