The ethics of giving
more money to charities that less people support directly, while giving less money to charities that a lot of people support already. This balances the opportunities for each charity to support their respective causes; this would mitigate the injustice of a pure effective altruistic approach as every charity will have enough money to support their cause; this would maximise the efficiency within each charity by scale, as the amount of good per dollar would increase with economics of scale. ◎
needed. As a result, each person should allocate half of their financial capital to a charity that supports a cause that they have empathy for in order to maintain their motivation for charity. The charity should find the most cost-effective way to reduce a person’s suffering within their cause, as the charity can serve more people, which creates the “most good” for the aided. The other half of their financial capital should be allocated to a global charity aid fund, which redistributes the funds to all charities fairly. The fund would distribute
An extract from Aidan Leung’s (Year 11) Erasmus essay, in which he explores the relationship between emotional and effective altruism
T he question of how to allocate charitable resources raises the debate between effective and emotional altruism; of which school of altruism would result in the best outcome for the two actors: the needy and the benefactors. It is important to note that this question encompasses both (potential) benefactors who are supporting charity and people who do not yet. Effective altruism maximises the “most good” providing the most to the most people, and emotional altruism values personal connections and empathy for the causes that one supports. What does one consider when supporting a charity? When one chooses a charity to support, one looks at the good the charity creates. More- over, one is influenced by their culture and religion,
role of sympathy in moral behaviour. As Hume argues, “sympathy is the chief source of moral distinctions”; altruistic behaviours stem from empathies that arise from a person and motivates them to support the cause. Rather than abstract optimisations of capital in effective altruism which generates little sympathies and few moral sentiments, to encourage a person to start supporting charity, having empathy or sympathy to the aided is likely to increase the will of a person to become involved in charitable actions. John Rawls’ theory of justice needs to be considered when creating a fair system of dis- tribution of aid while attempting to maximise good. Under a veil of ignorance, a sufferer does not know in what way they will be suffering. Therefore,
one’s values, and whom one empathises with the most. The specific objective of a charitable action that one wants to achieve can vary, but by and large one would want to make a positive impact, and thr-
they would want to create a system that distributes aid fairly so everyone would have the opportunity to be saved, regardless of their situation. As a moral principle, a just system that minimises suffering for all
A system that is able to incorporate empathy in donations, fairness and maximising good is needed
ough one’s actions one wants to gain satisfaction and happiness as they have done a moral good. These two goals are crucial, for having the will and being able to derive happiness from charity are the prerequisites for one to support a charity. The school of altruism affects a person’s will and capacity to be charitable. This difference in motivations underscores a key philosophical debate, highlighted by David Hume, regarding the
equally is better than a system where some are prioritised based on certain criteria. This leads on to the limitations of effective altruism. Although effective altruism minimises the suffering of people to the fullest extent, its utilitarian approach which uses cost-effectiveness to justify who to help first leads to an unfair system. Thus, a system that is able to incorporate empathy in donations, fairness and maximising good is
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THE ALLEYNIAN 713
OPINION, INTERVIEWS & FEATURES
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