The Institutional Critique of Effective Altruism - Wharton

# The Institutional Critique of Effective Altruism

BRIAN BERKEY _University of Pennsylvania_

In recent years, the effective altruism movement has generated much discussion about the ways in which we can most effectively improve the lives of the global poor, and pursue other morally important goals. One of the most common criticisms of the movement is that it has unjustifiably neglected issues related to institutional change that could address the root causes of poverty, and instead focused its attention on encouraging individuals to direct resources to organizations that directly aid people living in poverty. In this paper, I discuss and assess this “institutional critique.” I argue that if we understand the core commitments of effective altruism in a way that is suggested by much of the work of its proponents, and also independently plausible, ther e is no way to understand the institutional critique such that it represents a view that is both independently plausible and inconsistent with the core commitments of effective altruism.

In recent years, the effective altruism movement has generated a great deal of discussion about the ways in which we (that is, at least those of us who are at least reasonably well off) can most effectively improve the lives of the global poor, and pursue other morally important goals (for example, reducing the suffering of non-human animals, or achieving criminal justice reform in 1 the United States). Two of the movement’s most prominent members, Peter Singer and William 2 MacAskill, have each produced a popular book aimed at broad audiences. These books, and the efforts of the movement that they represent, have in turn generated a significant amount of critical discussion. This discussion has, to this point, taken place primarily in popular media 3 outlets and on blogs, rather than in academic journals.

1 On criminal justice reform, see William MacAskill, _Doing Good Better: How Effective Altruism Can Help_ _You Make A Difference (New York: Gotham Books, 2015), pp. 185 -7. For information on GiveWell’s work in this_ area, see [http://www.givewell.org/labs/causes/criminal](http://www.givewell.org/labs/causes/criminal) -justice-reform. 2 Singer, The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015); MacAskill , Doing Good Better . 3 Important exception s are Theron Pummer, “Whether and Where to Give,” Philosophy and Public Affairs 44 (2016): 77 -95 and Iason Gabriel, “Effective Altruism and its Critics,” _Journal of Applied Philosophy_ (forthcoming). In addition, the Journal of Global Ethics recently published a symposium on Singer’s The Most _Good You Can Do (Volume 12, No. 2), and a recent special issue of Essays in Philosophy was dedicated to Effective_ Altruism (Volume 18, Issue 1). Ano ther valuable contribution is Jennifer Rubenstein, “The Lessons of Effective

One of the most common criticisms of the movement is that it has unjust

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