Virtues for Real-World Utilitarians

Abstract

Utilitarianism says that we should maximize aggregate well-being, impartially considered. But utilitarians that try to apply this principle will encounter many psychological obstacles, ranging from selfishness to moral biases to limits to epistemic and instrumental rationality. In this chapter, we argue that utilitarians should cultivate a number of virtues that allow them to overcome the most important of these obstacles. We select virtues based on two criteria. First, the virtues should be impactful: they should greatly increase your impact (according to utilitarian standards), if you acquire them. Second, the virtues should be acquirable: they should be psychologically realistic to acquire. Using these criteria, we argue that utilitarians should prioritize six virtues: moderate altruism, moral expansiveness, effectiveness-focus, truth-seeking, collaborativeness, and determination. Finally, we discuss how our suggested list of virtues compares with standard conceptions of utilitarianism, as well as with common sense morality.

How Effective Altruism Can Help Psychologists Maximize Their Impact

“…For this same reason, cause prioritization often involves cause neutrality , or choosing causes on the basis of impartial estimates of impact (e.g., all else equal, we should allocate more funds to depression than Alzheimer’s disease because the former cause accounts for more of the global burden of disease; The Lancet , 2020). Many effective altruists also acknowledge that, practically, most people favor the interests of themselves and their close friends and family and that these interests can be carefully balanced against the moral goals of being impartial and maximizing social impact (Schubert & Caviola, 2021).…”