Effective Altruism
Normative Aspects of Empathy
Using the knowledge gained from empathy
Being the prima facie of a target's emotions.
*Prima facie -based on the first impression; accepted as correct until proved otherwise
Objections to effective altruism as a normative claim
Virtue Ethics
"We should do the most good we can"
"How the person ought to handle information gained from empathic understanding of other individuals is. Once we've approved of their state and undergone our own “transformative” experience of the other, we are left with information that to some may seem morally difficult to handle. We are not always moral.The problem with empathy is the feeling of immediacy that sometimes accompanies it".
(Hrincu,2017)
"During the initial process of empathy, where the person empathizing finds the state of the target intelligible. One can understand why the other feels, acts, or reacts as they do. Intelligibility means one approves of or accepts the other’s emotions prima facie"
(Oxley,2011)
Agent - Centered Restrictions
One might object to effective altruism on epistemic grounds, claiming that we are utterly clueless about what activities will, in the indefinitely long run, do the most good.
(Lenman,2000)
Impartiality
Agent-Centered Options
"How can I do the most good, given what others are likely to do?"
One might claim that we are morally obligated not to always try to promote as much good as possible.
Cost Effectiveness
Cause Prioritization
It might be objected that it is morally permissible not to always try to promote as much good as possible
There seem to be many cases in which, even if we each do the most good we can individually, we do less good than we collectively could have done. Well-known coordination problems can give rise to such cases
(Gibbard 1965).