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by tomrod 1299 days ago
> There's tons of fundermental EA posts and writings that talk about how EA cannot be an 'ends justify the means' philosophy to donating.

This is at odds with its core adoption of utilitarianism, which is the movement's fundamental justification. Utilitarianism is sort of textbook "sounds nice on paper, works crappy in practice" outcome.
1 comments
eddsh1994 1299 days ago
That's because they're not the same thing and all the press EA has recently received is completely butchering the much more nuanced message.

It's covered briefly here https://www.effectivealtruism.org/faqs-criticism-objections

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tomrod 1299 days ago
Pushback: the press has gotten this correct, and EA's attempts at distinguishing itself as something else have failed.
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eddsh1994 1299 days ago
How can the press be correct about what something is, when that something has since its inception been both vocally and actively different? Even going back to Singers books that sort of kicked this all off its specifically said to be different to utilitarianism. Most advocates of EA say they're not utilitarian. I'm saying I'm not utilitarian. EA organizations actions are clearly not utilitarian in general.

I don't really know how to defend EA as not Utilitarian beyond that, except saying take a look at some EA-based books or blog posts that aren't from the last month and decide for yourself!

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tomrod 1299 days ago
> except saying take a look at some EA-based books or blog posts that aren't from the last month and decide for yourself!

Many have, including the press, hence why the press says its utilitarianism reskinned! :)

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eddsh1994 1299 days ago
If you're genuine about learning more to have a balanced view I really do recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qslo4-DpzPs. This to me is a good representation of what EA is and is challenged by someone in a sensible way.
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tomrod 1299 days ago
You keep using and implying the term learn as if I haven't read about this quite a few times over the past decade, evaluated it, and found it wanting. Please do me a favor and at least acknowledge that many people you interact with regarding EA have thought about it and aren't babes in the wool.

EA is reskinned utilitarianism, which folks have repeated pointed out.

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