The benefits of cause-neutrality

Abstract

The debate about prioritizing causes and strategies to reduce suffering among different sentient beings is often hampered by biases and inflexibility, affecting the effectiveness of activism. A cause-neutral approach to activism is proposed as a way to mitigate these issues, focusing on strategies that are effective regardless of the cause. This approach involves evaluating causes solely on the basis of their effectiveness, being open to updating based on new evidence, and pursuing meta-strategies such as cause-neutral movement building and prioritizing research on the effectiveness of interventions. The article argues that this approach maximizes impact and enhances the flexibility of activism in addressing a wide range of causes that might prove to be the most important in reducing suffering. – AI-generated abstract.