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How should the well-off respond to the world's needy? Renowned ethicist Larry S. Temkin challenges common beliefs about philanthropy and Effective Altruism, exploring the complex ways that global aid may do more harm than good, and considers the alternatives available when neglecting the needy is morally impermissible.
List of contents
- 1: Introduction
- 2: Global Need: My Longtime Commitment and Earlier Views
- 3: Singer's Pond Example and Some Worries about Effective Altruism
- 4: Direct versus Indirect Aid
- 5: The Dark Side of Humanity, Part I--Worries about Internal Corruption
- 6: The Dark Side of Humanity, Part II--Worries about External Corruption
- 7: The Dark Side of Humanity, Part III--Where Evil Walks
- 8: Marketplace Distortions and Human Capital
- 9: Model Projects and the Difficulty of Predicting Future Success
- 10: Ethical Imperialism: Some Worries about Paternalism, Autonomy, and Respect
- 11: On the Relation between Aid, Governance, and Human Flourishing: Deaton's Worry
- 12: Individual versus Collective Rationality and Morality: A Troubling Possibility
- 13: Further Objections to Deaton's Worry and Some Responses
- 14: Responsibility and Fairness: Further Support for a Pluralistic Approach to Global Aid
- 15: Taking Stock, Clarifications, and Further Thoughts
- 16: Conclusion
- Appendix A: How Expected Utility Theory Can Drive Us Off the Rails
- Appendix B: On the Irrelevance of Proximity or Distance for Morality
About the author
Larry S. Temkin is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers. He graduated number one from the University of Wisconsin/Madison before pursuing graduate work at Oxford and earning his PhD from Princeton. He is the author of Inequality, hailed as "one of the [20th century's] most important contributions to analytical political philosophy" and of Rethinking the Good, described as a "tour de force" and "a genuinely awe-inspiring achievement." Temkin's approach to equality has been adopted by the World Health Organization. An award-winning teacher, he has received fellowships from Harvard, All Souls College and Corpus Christi College at Oxford, the National Institutes of Health, the Australian National University, the National Humanities Center, the Danforth Foundation, and Princeton.
Summary
How should the well-off respond to the world's needy? Renowned ethicist Larry S. Temkin challenges common beliefs about philanthropy and Effective Altruism, exploring the complex ways that global aid may do more harm than good, and considers the alternatives available when neglecting the needy is morally impermissible.
Additional text
In this book, Temkin engages sympathetically but critically with both the philosophical views and the practical recommendations of effective altruists like Peter Singer. Specifically, he raises a number of challenges to the view that one of the most important things that the well-off among us can and ought to do in order to live a morally good life in a world of need...Temkin emphasizes repeatedly that he has long been, and remains, a strong proponent of aiding the badly off (44, 295, 318), and that at least most of what he argues in the book is compatible with the broad spirit of effective altruism.
