But you seem to be also arguing “you don’t need to justify your actions to yourself / at all”
Kinda. More like “nobody can make you act in accordance with your own true values—you just have to want to.”
If people aren’t required to live in accordance with even their own values, what’s the point in having values?
To fully explain my position would require a lot of unpacking. But, in brief, no—how could people be required to live in accordance with their own values? Other people might try to enforce value-aligned living, but they can’t read your mind or fully control you—hardly makes it a “requirement.” If what you’re getting at is that people **should** live according to their values, then, sure, maybe (not sure I would make this a rule on utilitarian grounds because a lot of people’s values or attempts to live up to their values would be harmful).
Suffice to say that, if Ben does not want to give money, he does not have to explain himself to us. The natural consequence of that may be losing respect from EAs he knows, like his former colleagues at GiveWell. He may be motivated to come up with spurious justifications for his actions so that it isn’t apparent to others that either his values have changed or he’s failing to live up to them. I would like to create conditions where Ben can be honest with himself. That way he either realizes that he still believes it’s best to give even though the effects or giving are more abstract or he faces up to the fact that his values have changed in an unpopular way but is able to stay in alignment with them. (This is all assuming that his post did not represent his true rejection, which it very well might have.)
Kinda. More like “nobody can make you act in accordance with your own true values—you just have to want to.”
To fully explain my position would require a lot of unpacking. But, in brief, no—how could people be required to live in accordance with their own values? Other people might try to enforce value-aligned living, but they can’t read your mind or fully control you—hardly makes it a “requirement.” If what you’re getting at is that people **should** live according to their values, then, sure, maybe (not sure I would make this a rule on utilitarian grounds because a lot of people’s values or attempts to live up to their values would be harmful).
Suffice to say that, if Ben does not want to give money, he does not have to explain himself to us. The natural consequence of that may be losing respect from EAs he knows, like his former colleagues at GiveWell. He may be motivated to come up with spurious justifications for his actions so that it isn’t apparent to others that either his values have changed or he’s failing to live up to them. I would like to create conditions where Ben can be honest with himself. That way he either realizes that he still believes it’s best to give even though the effects or giving are more abstract or he faces up to the fact that his values have changed in an unpopular way but is able to stay in alignment with them. (This is all assuming that his post did not represent his true rejection, which it very well might have.)