Very interesting points. Here are a few other things to think about: 1. I think there are very few people whose primary motivation is helping others, so we shouldn’t empirically expect them to be doing the most good because they represent a very small portion of the population. This is especially true if you think (which I do) that the vast majority of people who do good are 1) (consciously or unconsciously) signaling for social status or 2) not doing good very effectively (the people who are are a much smaller subgroup because doing non-effective good is easy). It would be very surprising, however, if those who try to do good effectively aren’t doing much better than those who aren’t, as individuals, on average, but it seems unlikely to me (though feel free to throw some stats that will change my mind!).
2. I’m very skeptical that “the defensibility of morality as the pursuit of greatness depends on how sophisticated our cultural conceptions of greatness are.” Could you give more reason for why you think this?
3. I’m skeptical that 1) searching for equanimity is truly the best thing and 2) that we have good and tractable methods of achieving it. Perhaps people would be better off as being more Buddhist on the margin, but, to me, it seems like (thoughtfully!) getting the heavy positive tail end results and be really careful and thoughtful about negatives leads to a much better off society.
Very interesting points. Here are a few other things to think about:
1. I think there are very few people whose primary motivation is helping others, so we shouldn’t empirically expect them to be doing the most good because they represent a very small portion of the population. This is especially true if you think (which I do) that the vast majority of people who do good are 1) (consciously or unconsciously) signaling for social status or 2) not doing good very effectively (the people who are are a much smaller subgroup because doing non-effective good is easy). It would be very surprising, however, if those who try to do good effectively aren’t doing much better than those who aren’t, as individuals, on average, but it seems unlikely to me (though feel free to throw some stats that will change my mind!).
2. I’m very skeptical that “the defensibility of morality as the pursuit of greatness depends on how sophisticated our cultural conceptions of greatness are.” Could you give more reason for why you think this?
3. I’m skeptical that 1) searching for equanimity is truly the best thing and 2) that we have good and tractable methods of achieving it. Perhaps people would be better off as being more Buddhist on the margin, but, to me, it seems like (thoughtfully!) getting the heavy positive tail end results and be really careful and thoughtful about negatives leads to a much better off society.
Let me know what you think!