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William MacAskill and Theron Pummer Effective altruism incollection This entry looks at effective altruism, defining it as the project of using evidence and reason to try to find out how to do the most good, and on this basis trying to do the most good, without violating any side‐constraints. It looks at what that project does and does not exclude. The entry then considers and rejects some reasons someone might have for thinking that effective altruism should not be a significant part of their life.

Effective altruism

William MacAskill and Theron Pummer

In Hugh LaFollette (ed.) The International Encyclopedia of Ethics, Oxford, 2013

Abstract

This entry looks at effective altruism, defining it as the project of using evidence and reason to try to find out how to do the most good, and on this basis trying to do the most good, without violating any side‐constraints. It looks at what that project does and does not exclude. The entry then considers and rejects some reasons someone might have for thinking that effective altruism should not be a significant part of their life.

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