Should Effective Altruists be Valuists instead of utilitarians? – part 3 in the Valuism sequence

By Spencer Greenberg and Amber Dawn Ace  Image created using the A.I. DALL•E 2 This is the third of five posts in my sequence of essays about my life philosophy, Valuism - here are the first, second, fourth, and fifth parts (though the links won’t work until those other essays are released). Sometimes, people take an important value - maybe their most important value - and decide to prioritize it above all other things. They neglect or ignore their other values in the process. In ...
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What to do when your values conflict? – part 2 in the Valuism sequence

By Spencer Greenberg and Amber Dawn Ace  Image created using the A.I. DALL•E 2 This is the second of five posts in my sequence of essays about my life philosophy, Valuism - here are the first, third, fourth, and fifth parts. Pretty much all of us have multiple intrinsic values (things we value for their own sake, not merely as a means to an end). This means that sometimes our intrinsic values come into conflict. For example, you might value: Both achieving ambitious goals and...
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How Ideology Eats Itself

Photo by Johnny Cohen on Unsplash
A quick primer on how to be a genuinely good person who harms the world: 1: Start to think that one ideology you like - which contains genuine benefits, truths, and positive moral elements - might be the only valid perspective. 2: Surround yourself with believers until you're convinced that your view is common and normal. 3: Ignore your own doubts so that you can fit in better. Join in on chastising (and eventually ostracizing) insiders who doubt too much. Punish slightly more hars...
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