Giving Compass' Take:

• This Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews post critiques Paul Woodruff's book, The Ethics of Giving, lauding it as an important step forward in the discussion of effective altruism and other tenets of philanthropy.

• This book — and others in the same genre — should serve as inspiration to givers who want to take a wider perspective on charitable works. Is it not the moral obligation of the wealthy to do so?

• Here are more details on understanding the effective altruism movement in general.

This volume is a valuable contribution to the burgeoning discussion of the ethics of philanthropy, which has been spurred in recent years in large part by the growth of the effective altruism movement. It contains six chapters by authors representing a range of theoretical orientations in ethics, along with an introduction and a concluding "Afterword" essay by the editor.

There are two features that are especially noteworthy. The first is that none of the contributions that are critical of effective altruism rely on what I have elsewhere called the "institutional critique," according to which effective altruism is objectionable in virtue of failing to recommend that individuals focus their efforts at least primarily on political action aimed at bringing about institutional changes that would address the "root causes" of poverty. Given the pervasiveness of this claim in critical discussions of effective altruism, and the fact that it is, in my view, unpersuasive, it is a welcome feature of the volume that it highlights alternative reasons why some might be skeptical of effective altruism.

The second noteworthy feature is that a type of justice-based argument for the view that at least many well off people are obligated to give substantially in order to improve the lives of the global poor is at least suggested, if not explicitly endorsed, in four of the chapters (i.e. those by Thomas E. Hill Jr., Jeff McMahan, and Elizabeth Ashford, plus Paul Woodruff's Afterword). The core of the argument is that because much of the wealth possessed by well off people is legally theirs only in virtue of the operation of unjust global and/or domestic institutions, they have no moral entitlement to it, and are obligated to redirect it in ways that will benefit those who are unjustly disadvantaged by the relevant institutions.

Read the full article about Paul Woodruff's "The Ethics of Giving" by Brian Berkey at ndpr.nd.edu.