More to explore on 'Radical Empathy'

By EA Handbook @ 2022-07-04T23:00 (+12)

An expanding moral circle?

• The Expanding Circle pg. 111-124 ‘Expanding the Circle of Ethics’ section (20 mins.)
• The Narrowing Circle (see here for summary and discussion) - An argument that the “expanding circle” historical thesis ignores all instances in which modern ethics narrowed the set of beings to be morally regarded, often backing its exclusion by asserting their non-existence, and thus assumes its conclusion. (30 mins.)
• Our descendants will probably see us as moral monsters. What should we do about that? - 80,000 Hours - A conversation with Professor Will MacAskill. (Podcast - 1 hour 50 mins.)
• The Possibility of an Ongoing Moral Catastrophe (full text of the required article, 30 mins.)

The case for caring about animal welfare

• The Case Against Speciesism - Centre for Reducing Suffering (10 mins.)
• Factory Farming - 80,000 Hours (5 mins.)
• Should animals, plants, and robots have the same rights as you? - Vox  (20 mins.)
• Animal Liberation, Chapter 3 - Down on the factory farm (1 hour.)
• 2017 Report on Consciousness and Moral Patienthood - An investigation into what types of beings merit moral concern. (6 hours, skimmable)
• Suffering in Animals vs. Humans (13 mins.)
• Rethink Priorities’ Welfare Range Estimates (19 mins.)

Reforming animal agriculture

• Dominion - Dominion uses drones, hidden and handheld cameras to expose the dark side of modern animal agriculture.  (Film - 2 hours)
  • Content Warning: Much of the film here can be extremely disturbing and includes graphically violent footage of factory farming. Please make sure to watch this in a moment without e.g. any upcoming deadlines or important meetings the same day. We include it because we think it’s important to really see how broken the world is.
• Food impacts a tool to explore the moral impact of different dietary choices.
• A New Agricultural Revolution (~22 mins. and transcript available; Q&A after Friedrich’s talk is optional)
• How Students Will Lead the Alternative Protein Revolution - Amy Huang (26 mins.)

Wild animal welfare

• Wild animal suffering: An introduction - Animal Ethics - An argument for us to take into account the wellbeing of animals that live in the wild. (10 mins)
• Wild Animal Initiative’s FAQ

Criticism of EA-related animal welfare work

• How the animal movement could do even more good (11 mins.)
• EAA is relatively overinvesting in corporate welfare reforms There is also an interesting response to this post from Saulius in the first set of comments. (7 mins.)
• Against the Moral Standing of Animals critique of arguments that animals deserve moral standing
• What’s Wrong with Speciesism?  Argument that animals do deserve moral standing, but lower moral status

Taking Action

• Impactful Animal Advocacy - An online community of animal advocates with an active Slack space
• Effective Animal Advocacy - Discussion - Global, active Facebook group discussing topics in EAA
• Talist - Alternative protein job board
• Animal Advocacy Careers - Job board for careers in animal advocacy
• Connect for Animals - Animal advocacy events database
• How I Learned to Love Shrimp - A podcast about impactful and innovative ways to help animals