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Leif Wenar | |
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| Academic background | |
| Education | Harvard University (PhD), Stanford University (AB) |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Philosopher |
| Institutions | Stanford University |
| Main interests | Ethics |
Leif Wenar is an American Philosopher and Olive H. Palmer Professor in Humanities at Stanford University. He is known for his work on political science. [1] In March 2024,he wrote an article for Wired magazine critiquing the effective altruism movement called "The Deaths of Effective Altruism." [2]
Altruism is the principle and practice of concern for the well-being and/or happiness of other humans or animals largely independent of that person's opinion of or reaction to oneself. While objects of altruistic concern vary,it is an important moral value in many cultures and religions. It may be considered a synonym of selflessness,the opposite of self-centeredness.
In ethical philosophy,ethical egoism is the normative position that moral agents ought to act in their own self-interest. It differs from psychological egoism,which claims that people can only act in their self-interest. Ethical egoism also differs from rational egoism,which holds that it is rational to act in one's self-interest. Ethical egoism holds,therefore,that actions whose consequences will benefit the doer are ethical.
Egoism is a philosophy concerned with the role of the self,or ego,as the motivation and goal of one's own action. Different theories of egoism encompass a range of disparate ideas and can generally be categorized into descriptive or normative forms. That is,they may be interested in either describing that people do act in self-interest or prescribing that they should. Other definitions of egoism may instead emphasise action according to one's will rather than one's self-interest,and furthermore posit that this is a truer sense of egoism.
The mind is that which thinks,feels,perceives,imagines,remembers,and wills. The totality of mental phenomena,it includes both conscious processes,through which an individual is aware of external and internal circumstances,and unconscious processes,which can influence an individual without intention or awareness. Traditionally,minds were often conceived as separate entities that can exist on their own but are more commonly understood as capacities of material brains in the contemporary discourse. The mind plays a central role in most aspects of human life but its exact nature is disputed. Some characterizations focus on internal aspects,saying that the mind is private and transforms information. Others stress its relation to outward conduct,understanding mental phenomena as dispositions to engage in observable behavior.
John Bordley Rawls was an American moral,legal and political philosopher in the modern liberal tradition. Rawls has been described as one of the most influential political philosophers of the 20th century.
"Justice as Fairness:Political not Metaphysical" is an essay by John Rawls,published in 1985. In it he describes his conception of justice. It comprises two main principles of liberty and equality;the second is subdivided into fair equality of opportunity and the difference principle.
Rational egoism is the principle that an action is rational if and only if it maximizes one's self-interest. As such,it is considered a normative form of egoism,though historically has been associated with both positive and normative forms. In its strong form,rational egoism holds that to not pursue one's own interest is unequivocally irrational. Its weaker form,however,holds that while it is rational to pursue self-interest,failing to pursue self-interest is not always irrational.
GiveWell is an American non-profit charity assessment and effective altruism-focused organization. GiveWell focuses primarily on the cost-effectiveness of the organizations that it evaluates,rather than traditional metrics such as the percentage of the organization's budget that is spent on overhead.
Giving What We Can (GWWC) is a group of charities promoting effective giving whose members pledge to give at least 10% of their income to effective charities. It was founded at Oxford University in 2009 by the philosopher Toby Ord,physician-in-training Bernadette Young,and fellow philosopher William MacAskill.
Toby David Godfrey Ord is an Australian philosopher. In 2009 he founded Giving What We Can,an international society whose members pledge to donate at least 10% of their income to effective charities,and is a key figure in the effective altruism movement,which promotes using reason and evidence to help the lives of others as much as possible.
Alice Crary is an American philosopher who currently holds the positions of University Distinguished Professor at the Graduate Faculty,The New School for Social Research in New York City and Visiting Fellow at Regent's Park College,University of Oxford,U.K..
Effective altruism (EA) is a 21st-century philosophical and social movement that advocates impartially calculating benefits and prioritizing causes to provide the greatest good. It is motivated by "using evidence and reason to figure out how to benefit others as much as possible,and taking action on that basis". People who pursue the goals of effective altruism,who are sometimes called effective altruists,follow a variety of approaches proposed by the movement,such as donating to selected charities and choosing careers with the aim of maximizing positive impact. The movement has achieved significant popularity outside of academia,spurring the creation of university-based institutes,research centers,advisory organizations and charities,which,collectively,have donated several hundreds of millions of dollars.
Earning to give involves deliberately pursuing a high-earning career for the purpose of donating a significant portion of earned income,typically because of a desire to do effective altruism. Advocates of earning to give contend that maximizing the amount one can donate to charity is an important consideration for individuals when deciding what career to pursue.
William David MacAskill is a Scottish philosopher and author,as well as one of the originators of the effective altruism movement. He was a Research Fellow at the Global Priorities Institute at the University of Oxford,co-founded Giving What We Can,the Centre for Effective Altruism and 80,000 Hours,and is the author of Doing Good Better (2015) and What We Owe the Future (2022),and the co-author of Moral Uncertainty (2020).
Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE),formerly known as Effective Animal Activism (EAA),is a US-based charity evaluator and effective altruism-focused nonprofit founded in 2012. ACE evaluates animal charities and compares the effectiveness of their different campaigns and strategies. The organization makes charity recommendations to donors once a year. Its stated purpose is finding and promoting the most effective ways to help animals.
Charity assessment is the process of analysis of the goodness of a non-profit organization in financial terms. Historically,charity evaluators have focused on the question of how much of contributed funds are used for the purpose(s) claimed by the charity,while more recently some evaluators have placed an emphasis on the cost effectiveness of charities.
Kelsey Piper is an American journalist who is a staff writer at Vox,where she writes for the column Future Perfect,which covers a variety of topics from an effective altruism perspective. While attending Stanford University,she founded and ran the Stanford Effective Altruism student organization. Piper blogs at The Unit of Caring.
Longtermism is the ethical view that positively influencing the long-term future is a key moral priority of our time. It is an important concept in effective altruism and a primary motivation for efforts that aim to reduce existential risks to humanity.
TESCREAL is an acronym neologism proposed by computer scientist Timnit Gebru and philosopher Émile P. Torres that stands for "transhumanism,extropianism,singularitarianism,cosmism,rationalism,effective altruism,and longtermism". Gebru and Torres argue that these ideologies should be treated as an "interconnected and overlapping" group with shared origins. They say this is a movement that allows its proponents to use the threat of human extinction to justify expensive or detrimental projects and consider it pervasive in social and academic circles in Silicon Valley centered around artificial intelligence. As such,the acronym is sometimes used to criticize a perceived belief system associated with Big Tech.
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