World News & Politics

The philosopher explained, almost 300 years ago, why something like effective altruism was fatally flawed.

During college, Bankman-Fried met with one of the other “stars” of the E.A. movement, Oxford philosopher William MacAskill, co-founder of the Centre for Effective Altruism, who sold the future crypto magnate on an approach to giving called “earning to give” — that is, pursuing a large fortune in industry, only to give it away in ways that promote the greatest good.

But Rousseau’s most compelling insight was psychological. He understood that a paradox lay at the heart of the philosophy proposed by his fictional correspondent. Creating wealth required selfishness and avarice. Charity, by contrast, demanded generosity. Decades spent greedily chasing profits would render it nearly impossible to maintain one’s philanthropic impulses.

(...)