Must You Be an Effective Altruist?

Abstract

Abstract Chapter 8 draws together the book’s main argument: that core claims from Chapters 1–4, about requiring reasons to help the most and permitting reasons not to, carry over to a significant range of real-world cases in which one can help using time and money. It argues that in the real world there is a ubiquity of requiring reasons to help strangers. This isn’t overly demanding, given that there is also a ubiquity of sufficiently strong permitting reasons. The chapter then discusses how to modify the book’s main argument, without the assumption that the time, money, and other resources in one’s possession rightfully belong to one. Finally, the chapter argues that a significant proportion of people are required either to be effective altruists or else to provide no less help over their lives than they would have done if they did the minimum required as effective altruists.