1

Introduction to session 2

During this session, we explore who our moral considerations should include. We focus especially on farmed animals as an important example of this question this week.

Key concepts from this session include:

• Impartiality: helping those that need it the most (only discounting people according to location, time, and species if those factors are in fact morally relevant).

• The importance (and difficulty) of considering unusual ideas: Society’s consensus has been wrong about many things over history (e.g. the sun circling the Earth, the morality of slavery). In order to avoid making similar mistakes, we need to be open to considering unusual ideas and moral positions, while still thinking critically about the issues and acting cooperatively with others.

2

Impartiality and radical empathy

1. Radical Empathy (8mins)

2. Moral Progress and 'Cause X' (36mins)

3. The Possibility of an Ongoing Moral Catastrophe (Summary) (5mins)

4. On 'fringe' ideas (6mins)

3

Animal welfare

1. All animals are equal by Peter Singer (3mins)

2. What is Sentience? (3 mins.)

3. *Farm to Fridge* - Mercy to Animals (12 mins., video)

   1. Content Warning: This film can be extremely disturbing and includes graphic footage of factory farming.

   2. OR, you can read Animal Welfare Cause Report | Founders Pledge (25 mins.)

4

Strategies for improving animal welfare

1. Want to help animals? Focus on corporate decisions, not people’s plates. (14mins)

2. Animal Advocacy Careers (Website to explore) (5mins)

5

Expected Value Theory - application

1. Expected Value Explained Intuitively (video - 9mins)

2. Hits-based Giving (13 mins)

6

Exercise (10mins)

(Please complete this before your session)

This session’s exercise is about doing some personal reflection. There are no right or wrong answers here, instead, this is an opportunity for you to take some time and think about your ethical values and beliefs.

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A letter to the past

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This exercise asks you to explore what it would take to change your mind about something important.

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Imagine someone from the past who held views characteristic of that time. Also imagine, for the sake of the exercise, that this person is not too different from you - perhaps you would have been friends. Unfortunately, many people in the past were complicit in horrible things, such as slavery, sexism, racism, and homophobia, which were even more prevalent in the past than they are now. And, sadly, this historical counterpart is also complicit in some moral tragedy common to their time, perhaps not out of malevolence or ill-will, but merely through indifference or ignorance.

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This exercise is to write a short letter to this historical friend arguing that they should care about a specific group that your present self values. Imagine that they are complicit in owning slaves, or in the oppression of women, people of other races, or sexual minorities.

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For the sake of this exercise, imagine your historical counterpart is not malevolent or selfish, they think they are living a normal moral life, but are unaware of where they are going wrong. What could you say to them to make them realize that they’re doing wrong? What evidence are they overlooking that allows them to hold their discriminatory views? You might want to write a few paragraphs or just bullet points, and spend time reflecting on what you wrote.