On 17th January 2017 took place open lecture provided by professor Dominic Roser (University of Fribourg) on "The effective Altruism Movement - should the principles of economics apply to charity?".
Dominic Roser is a senior lecturer and an academic in the University of Fribourg. Earlier he had been working with such universities as: Oxford University, Graz University, Zurych University and Berno University. He has vast experience in economics and philosophy. A book "Climate Justice An Introduction" (London, Routledge) where he is a co-author, is his latest publishing.
"The Effective Altruism Movement - should the principles of economics apply to charity?"
In recent years, a new movement has developed: Effective Altruism (EA). It calls for more altruism in all aspects of our life, and it calls for more cost-effectiveness in our altruism. Being more cost-effectiveness requires being evidence-based, open-minded and pragmatic about which tools are best suited to benefit the greatest number of our fellow beings to the greatest extent. Among the more provocative suggestions of the EA movement is, for example, the idea that it would be optimal for many young people to study finance, go into banking, and earn a lot of money which can then be donated to the most efficient charities.
In this talk, I will first describe the EA movement. Secondly, I will highlight its value and its novelty. Thirdly, I will discuss and assess a number of criticisms of the EA movement. These criticisms include the charge (i) that it is misguided to give altruism such a central place in one's life; (ii) that focusing so much on cost-effectiveness undermines the motivation and value of altruism; (iii) that the theoretical inspiration for the EA movement - maximizing utility across time and space - is questionable: what we need is justice, not charity.
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