Competency Education for Effective Altruism Practice

Abstract

Altruism is generally regarded as the ideology of sacrificing or devoting oneself to the happiness of others without regard for one’s own happiness. However, this idea is difficult to put into wide practice due to the fact that it does not consider the actors themselves. Thus, the philosopher Peter Singer argues for “effective” altruism, which is much easier to practice and more acceptable. The effective altruism he proposes aims at maximizing the good by considering the happiness of the subject of action. His thought is different from that of existing altruism in that the opportunity to help others is not based on emotion but rather on critical reasoning. In addition, effective altruism is closely related to solving current and future problems in that it presupposes practice. Effective altruism contributes to the maximization of the good of everyone, including the actor, and can be an alternative to reciprocal altruism, which can lead to collective selfishness, which in turn brings positive changes to the lives of the actor as well as the beneficiaries. In this respect, I argue that effective altruism needs to be widely taught, and that four competencies need to be emphasized as educational measures: emotional empathy, intellectual empathy, rational thinking, and practice and positive feedback.