Read Scott Alexander

Want to dive into Scott Alexander's work and his thousands of blog posts? This fan website lets you sort and do semantic search through the whole codex. Enjoy!

Tag: moral reasoning

Minutes:

Pick a custom range (minutes). Leave a field empty for no limit.

–

Blog:

Year:

Tags:

Filter by tag...

Exclude tag...

5212 tags

Links:

Filter by linked site (twitter, substack…)

2 posts found

Per page:

Compact Mode

Save Reads

Feb 28, 2024

acx

Read on

Less Utilitarian Than Thou

7 min • 970 words • 593 comments • 236 likes • podcast (7 min)

Scott Alexander explores the misconception of utilitarianism, arguing that many common political actions are more ethically questionable than his own 'utilitarian' views. Longer summary

Scott Alexander discusses the perception of utilitarianism and how it's often misunderstood. He argues that many common political actions, which violate ethical rules for a supposed greater good, are not seen as utilitarian. Meanwhile, his own views labeled as 'utilitarian' are often less extreme. He suggests this disparity stems from people's discomfort with applying calculations to morality, rather than from the actual ethical implications of different actions. Shorter summary

Recurring tags: ethics (52), cognitive bias (32), utilitarianism (30), political philosophy (17), public perception (10), moral reasoning (2)

Aug 25, 2022

acx

Read on

Highlights From The Comments On The Repugnant Conclusion And WWOTF

38 min • 5,888 words • 361 comments • 56 likes • podcast (40 min)

Scott Alexander summarizes and responds to comments on his review of 'What We Owe The Future', addressing debates around population ethics, longtermism, and moral philosophy. Longer summary

This post highlights key comments on Scott Alexander's review of William MacAskill's book 'What We Owe The Future'. It covers various reactions and debates around topics like the repugnant conclusion in population ethics, longtermism, moral philosophy, AI risk, and the nature of happiness and suffering. Scott responds to several comments, clarifying his views on philosophy, moral reasoning, and the challenges of population ethics. Shorter summary

Recurring tags: effective altruism (94), highlights from the comments (67), AI risk (44), moral philosophy (42), utilitarianism (30), happiness (10), future scenarios (5), population ethics (4), longtermism (3), moral reasoning (2), repugnant conclusion (2)

Per page:

Showing 1 to 2 of 2 results