Table of Contents
What is good effective altruism?
Effective altruism is a philosophy and social movement that advocates the use of evidence and reasoning to determine the most effective ways to benefit others. This is achieved by using evidence and reasoning to identify which actions do the most good, as opposed to acting instinctively or intuitively.
What is a counterfactual in effective altruism?
Counterfactual reasoning involves scenarios that will occur if an agent chooses a certain action, or that would have occurred if an agent had chosen an action they did not.
What is valuable about effective altruism?
Philosophy Impartiality. Altruism, or benefitting others, can be driven by various kinds of motivation and justification, including impartial or impersonal reasoning and sentiments such as sympathy and compassion. Cause prioritization. Cost-effectiveness. Counterfactual reasoning.
What are some good arguments for altruism?
The arguments in favour of effective altruism: If we decide only give to charities that drastically improve a large number of lives and create a measurable difference, effective altruism will incentivise organisations to be more transparent and demonstrate their effectiveness.
What are examples of altruistic acts?
Males, that are unrelated to the parents of the eggs in nests, guard the nest from predators and prevent fungal growth that would kill off the brood. There is no clear benefit to the male so it is considered a true altruistic act. An interesting example of altruism is found in the cellular slime moulds, such as Dictyostelium mucoroides.
What does altruism mean to you?
The word “altruist” means a person who has an unselfish concern for the welfare of others. In Zoology, the word is applied to instinctive behavior that is detrimental to the individual but favors the survival or spread of that individual’s genes, as by benefiting its relatives.