Singer, Peter. "The Logic of Effective Altruism". The Boston Review, 6 July 2017.

Singer, Peter. "The Logic of Effective Altruism". The Boston Review, 6 July 2017.

• The author tells the story of one of his former students: a Wall Street executive named Matt Wage, who decided to take a very well paid position and donate half of his income to effective charities in order to maximize the number of lives he could save through charitable donations. The author coins this movement: 'effective altruism'.
• The basic premise of 'effective altruism' is that not commiting bad acts is not enough to be moral, active use of excess money or time for moral causes is necessary for morality. To not give extra time or money to charity is immoral.
• Effective altruism is having a number of effects in the United States. Firstly, it is encouraging charities to provide more data which high-power altruist donors use to select charities. Secondly, it is giving atheistic millenials a sense of purpose. Third, it helps philosophy in some way.
• Whereas most charity donations are given sporadically because it makes people feel good to do something, the charity of effective altruists is directed by reason and calculation of the greatest possible good. For this reason, they would never give to the Make-A-Wish foundation when giving to life-saving charities is an option.
• A lot of disagreement exists among effective altruists on what constitutes the 'greatest good' and the calculus upon which suffering should be calculated. This is why simple and critical causes, like extreme poverty, famine, and preventible disease rank so highly, because everyone can agree that life with dignity is supremely important. Other causes, like the arts, are almost always delayed for after the triumph of humanity over extreme poverty and preventible disease.