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Gleb_Tsipursky comments on “Be A Superdonor!”: Promoting Effective Altruism by Appealing to the Heart - Less Wrong Discussion

8 Post author: Gleb_Tsipursky 09 November 2015 06:20PM

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Comment author: Gleb_Tsipursky 11 November 2015 12:26:15AM -1 points [-]

I'm confused by your use of the term "honor." Let's taboo that term. Can you explain what's wrong with desiring to be better than others?

Comment author: LessRightToo 13 November 2015 02:46:28AM *  0 points [-]

In its purest form, giving is intentionally impoverishing yourself in order to enrich another (the terms impoverish, enrich, and another can be as defined as narrowly or as broadly as you'd like). A person who makes some gesture for the sole purpose of self-elevation is not actually giving, no matter how generous the gesture may appear to casual observers. The most effective campaigns I've seen in the charitable giving domain emphasize positive outcomes for others rather than appealing to a donor's vanity or encouraging narcissism.

Comment author: Gleb_Tsipursky 13 November 2015 05:35:34AM -1 points [-]

Ah, thanks for clarifying. So it's a matter of purity of motivations. As a consequentialist I am mainly concerned with the outcome of people caring about effective giving and therefore giving to effective, evidence-based charities, and if getting them to desire self-elevation will motivate donors, then I'm happy to use that to achieve the outcome.