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Moral Uncertainty

by William MacAskill (Author), Krister Bykvist (Author), Toby Ord (Author)
This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

Very often we are uncertain about what we ought, morally, to do. We do not know how to weigh the interests of animals against humans, how strong our duties are to improve the lives of distant strangers, or how to think about the ethics of bringing new people into existence. But we still need to act. So how should we make decisions in the face of such uncertainty? 

Though economists and philosophers have extensively studied the issue of decision-making in the face of uncertainty about matters of fact, the question of decision-making given fundamental moral uncertainty has been neglected. In Moral Uncertainty, philosophers William MacAskill, Krister Bykvist, and Toby Ord try to fill this gap. They argue that there are distinctive norms that govern how one ought to make decisions and defend an information-sensitive account of how to make such decisions. They do so by developing an analogy between moral uncertainty and social choice, noting that different moral views provide different amounts of information regarding our reasons for action, and arguing that the correct account of decision-making under moral uncertainty must be sensitive to that. Moral Uncertainty also tackles the problem of how to make intertheoretic comparisons, and addresses the implications of their view for metaethics and practical ethics. 
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  1. ISBN-10
    0198722273
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0198722274
  3. Publisher
    Oxford University Press
  4. Publication date
    October 18, 2020
  5. Language
    English
  6. Dimensions
    8.6 x 0.8 x 5.4 inches
  7. Print length
    238 pages
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From the Back Cover

Very often we are uncertain about what we ought, morally, to do. We do not know how to weigh the interests of animals against humans, how strong our duties are to improve the lives of distant strangers, or how to think about the ethics of bringing new people into existence. But we still need to act. So how should we make decisions in the face of such uncertainty?

Though economists and philosophers have extensively studied the issue of decision-making in the face of uncertainty about matters of fact, the question of decision-making given fundamental moral uncertainty has been neglected. In Moral Uncertainty, philosophers William MacAskill, Krister Bykvist, and Toby Ord try to fill this gap. They argue that there are distinctive norms that govern how one ought to make decisions and defend an information-sensitive account of how to make such decisions. They do so by developing an analogy between moral uncertainty and social choice, noting that different moral views provide different amounts of information regarding our reasons for action, and arguing that the correct account of decision-making under moral uncertainty must be sensitive to that. Moral Uncertainty also tackles the problem of how to make intertheoretic comparisons, and addresses the implications of their view for metaethics and practical ethics.

About the Author

William MacAskill is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford. He is the author of the bestselling book Doing Good Better (Avery 2015), and has published in philosophy journals such as Mind, Ethics, and The Journal of Philosophy. He cofounded the international non-profits Centre for Effective Altruism, 80,000 Hours, and Giving What We Can. 

Krister Bykvist is a Professor of Practical Philosophy at Stockholm University and a Research Fellow at the Institute for Futures Studies, Stockholm. His articles have appeared in Economics and Philosophy, Philosophical Studies, and Mind. His research concerns questions about our responsibility for future generations, the foundations of consequentialism, evaluative uncertainty, and the relationship between preferences, value, and welfare. He is currently co-leading an interdisciplinary project on climate ethics. 

Toby Ord is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute. He is the author of The Precipice (Bloomsbury 2020), which argues that safeguarding humanity's longterm potential is a central moral priority of our time. His earlier research focused on the ethics of global health and global poverty. He is the cofounder of Giving What We Can, an international society focusing on pledging part of our income to the most effective charities, and of the Effective Altruism movement. 

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  1. Toby Ord

    Toby Ord

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    Toby Ord is a philosopher at Oxford University, working on the big picture questions facing humanity. His earlier work explored the ethics of global poverty, leading him to make a lifelong pledge to donate 10% of his income to the most effective charities helping improve the world. He created a society, Giving What We Can, for people to join this mission, and together its members have pledged over $1.5 billion. He then broadened these ideas by co-founding the Effective Altruism movement in which thousands of people are using reason and evidence to help the lives of others as much as possible.

    His current research is on risks that threaten human extinction or the permanent collapse of civilization, and on how to safeguard humanity through these dangers, which he considers to be among the most pressing and neglected issues we face. In his new book, The Precipice, he explains the risks we face, the stakes for humanity, and how we can find a path forward. Toby has advised the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, the US National Intelligence Council, and the UK Prime Minister's Office.

    tobyord.com

    theprecipice.com

    givingwhatwecan.org

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  2. William MacAskill

    William MacAskill

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    I'm Will MacAskill, Associate Professor in Philosophy and Research Fellow at the Global Priorities Institute, University of Oxford. My academic research focuses on the fundamentals of effective altruism - the use of evidence and reason to help others by as much as possible with our time and money, with a particular concentration on how to act given moral uncertainty.

    I am the author of Doing Good Better - Effective Altruism and a Radical New Way to Make a Difference, and Moral Uncertainty. My latest book is What We Owe The Future.

    I am the Director of the Forethought Foundation for Global Priorities Research, a co-founder and the President of the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) and I helped to create the effective altruism movement. Through Giving What We Can, CEA encourages people to commit to donate at least 10% of their income to the most effective charities. CEA also runs over 100 effective altruism local groups, hosts regular effective altruism conferences, and does research into high-impact policy and philanthropic opportunities.

    I also co-founded 80,000 Hours, a YCombinator-backed non-profit that provides research and advice on how you can best make a difference through your career.

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