Commentary
Nothing is corruptible as a motivation that is universally celebrated as perfect. There will always be a danger that such an unquestioned motivation works as a perfect cover for egregious moral harm. The writings of H.L. Mencken on puritanism comes to mind. In his literary career, he cultivated a keen awareness of how and when public figures deploy moral purity as a disguise for the opposite.
Philosopher William MacAskill’s notion of “effective altruism” is a case in point. Though it had escaped my notice until the furious and astonishing FTX scandal, the notion seems to have gained some kind of growing importance in the world of ideas. The theory is so utterly puerile that it is hard to believe that anyone took it seriously. It is simply that people should make lots of money so that they can give lots of money away….