Answering a dozen objections to EA – JD on the Majesty of Reason podcast
Thumbnail image of the YouTube video
Watch the episode on YouTube here.
The Podcast
JD and Matthew Adelstein (aka Bentham’s Bulldog) discuss various objections to Effective Altruism with host Joe Schmid on the Majesty of Reason podcast.
Majesty of Reason is a podcast about the philosophy of religion and metaphysics. It is something of a curious platform to be talking about Christian EA since Joe Schmid is not a Christian, but many philosophically inclined Christians follow the channel for the debate and analysis of various arguments.
Objections covered
The objections they cover are (links to the YouTube video timestamps):
Utilitarianism objection (9:25)
Incommensurability objection (15:57)
Demandingness objection (23:44)
Earn-to-give objection (29:10)
Individualism, institutional critique, and capitalism (33:26)
Too longtermist (39:28)
Triviality objection (47:50)
Sociological criticisms at the margins [Sam Bankman-Fried] (50:10)
Epistemic objection (56:15)
Timmerman’s dilemma (1:00:08)
Incompatible with Christianity (1:10:08)
Some highlights below.
The utilitarianism objection
The utilitarianism objection is that Effective Altruism is associated with Utilitarianism, an ethical theory is controversial and has received various criticisms. (The relationship between utilitarianism and EA is also something that is explored in EACH blog posts and presentations and discussions.) In their responses, JD and Matthew pointed out that EA does not require one to be a utilitarian. JD pointed out that:
“Most Christians in the movement are not [utilitarians]. It's hard to draw a straight line from scripture to utilitarianism and that's one of the reasons why I don't find it convincing. Many people are reasonably persuaded that utilitarianism is false but still think it's really important that we do our best to make sure that good outcomes happen.“
The Demandingness Objection
The demandingness objection states that morality cannot be as demanding as Effective Altruism makes it seem. Morality could not require people to, for example, give away a significant amount of their incomes, the argument goes. JD’s thoughts on the matter:
“[The demandingness of EA] shouldn't disqualify it when you expect that a correct moral theory would be really demanding. I think as a Christian you also see this in the words of Jesus that whoever wants to follow him has to bear their own cross. The saints are noted for taking extremely morally demanding positions and that's what makes them saints. You might think that's supererogatory and we shouldn't expect that of everybody but I think we probably should! Of course with a lot of grace for ourselves.“
Proper rest can still be called for, though, since doing good is a marathon, not a sprint.
Sociological criticisms at the margins (Sam Bankman-Fried)
Sam Bankman-Fried was a deca-billionaire who had committed to giving his wealth to effective charity. In late 2022 his crypto exchange company FTX collapsed and it turned out he had engaged in extensive fraud in making his fortune. Because he was publicly associated with the EA movement, it became a major objection that EA could lead someone to pursue wealth in unethical ways to donate it.
JD’s compared the situation to what sometimes happens with the church and Christianity.
“We see this in the church too. You have individuals who do awful things in the name of religion or in the name of Christianity. That doesn't mean the way of loving others is bad. … People who act in the name of something don't necessarily represent it. There was that great quote, “Never judge a philosophy by its abuse”. What's core here is that the fundamental ideas and prescriptions of the movement are sound even if you can have people who claim to follow them but actually don't.”
(See this post on the EACH blog for thoughts on the FTX scandal.)
Incompatibility with Christianity objection
This objection is basically the claim that EA is incompatible with Christianity. The reason is often utilitarian ethics, but the answers to this form of the objection are the same as to the utilitarianism objection. JD also discussed the overlap between Christian ethics and EA.
“We see so much of Christ's ethics echoed in the EA movement. Christ says to love God with all your heart soul mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. I think the Christian walk is all about that and we see Jesus saying “Whoever has two shirts should give to him who has none” or thousands of verses in Scripture about caring for the poor and vulnerable that are often glossed over in today's common cultural discourse in Christianity. So much more of scripture is about giving what you have to the poor and to the vulnerable and that's one of the main prescriptions of Effective Altruism: taking a pledge to give some percentage of your income—why not 10%—to the world's poorest people. I think that's exactly the kind of thing that Jesus would think. Maybe he wouldn't tell anybody about it but it's the kind of action that he would take.”
