William MacAskill Books
William MacAskill is a Scottish philosopher and associate professor at the University of Oxford. He is a co-founder of the effective altruism movement and organizations such as Giving What We Can and 80,000 Hours.
Known for: What We Owe the Future, Doing Good Better: Effective Altruism and a Radical New Way to Make a Difference
Books by William MacAskill
What We Owe the Future
What if the most important moral choices of our time are not only about the people alive today, but about the billions or even trillions who may live after us? In What We Owe the Future, philosopher W...
Doing Good Better: Effective Altruism and a Radical New Way to Make a Difference
Doing Good Better introduces the philosophy and movement of effective altruism, which seeks to use evidence and reason to determine the most effective ways to improve the world. William MacAskill argu...
Key Insights from William MacAskill
Future people count morally too
A simple idea can rearrange an entire moral worldview: people who do not exist yet can still matter. MacAskill begins from a strikingly intuitive premise—if someone will exist in the future and can experience happiness, suffering, flourishing, or loss, then their wellbeing deserves moral considerati...
From What We Owe the Future
The future could be unimaginably vast
The moral stakes of the future become enormous once we recognize how much life may still lie ahead. Humanity is a very young species by cosmic standards. If civilization survives major dangers, there is no obvious reason human or post-human life could not continue for thousands, millions, or even fa...
From What We Owe the Future
Long-term effects often outweigh immediate ones
Some actions matter not because of what they do today, but because of what they set in motion. MacAskill argues that when evaluating the consequences of our choices, we should pay attention to indirect, delayed, and compounding effects. A policy may appear modest in the present yet profoundly shape ...
From What We Owe the Future
History turns on contingent moments
It is tempting to think that history unfolds inevitably, but MacAskill emphasizes how often it hinges on fragile contingencies. Specific leaders, inventions, social movements, accidents, and institutional decisions have altered the course of civilization. If that is true, then the present may also c...
From What We Owe the Future
Extinction risks demand serious prevention
Few ideas are more unsettling than human extinction, yet MacAskill argues that we must confront it directly. If humanity’s future could be vast, then events that end civilization entirely are not just tragedies for current populations; they would erase all possible future lives, achievements, cultur...
From What We Owe the Future
Progress needs wisdom, not speed alone
Technological advancement is often treated as automatically good, but MacAskill offers a more careful view: progress increases our power, and power magnifies both virtue and error. New technologies can cure diseases, reduce poverty, and expand knowledge. They can also scale surveillance, accelerate ...
From What We Owe the Future
About William MacAskill
William MacAskill is a Scottish philosopher and associate professor at the University of Oxford. He is a co-founder of the effective altruism movement and organizations such as Giving What We Can and 80,000 Hours. His work focuses on ethics, decision theory, and how individuals can use evidence and ...
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William MacAskill is a Scottish philosopher and associate professor at the University of Oxford. He is a co-founder of the effective altruism movement and organizations such as Giving What We Can and 80,000 Hours. His work focuses on ethics, decision theory, and how individuals can use evidence and ...
William MacAskill is a Scottish philosopher and associate professor at the University of Oxford. He is a co-founder of the effective altruism movement and organizations such as Giving What We Can and 80,000 Hours. His work focuses on ethics, decision theory, and how individuals can use evidence and reason to do the most good.
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William MacAskill is a Scottish philosopher and associate professor at the University of Oxford. He is a co-founder of the effective altruism movement and organizations such as Giving What We Can and 80,000 Hours.
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