The Drowning Child Problem

Sam Harris speaks with David Edmonds about moral philosophy and effective altruism. They discuss Edmonds’s book Death in a Shallow Pond, Peter Singer’s famous drowning child thought experiment, arguments for and against thought experiments, “trolleyology,” consequentialism, the origins of the Effective Altruism movement, the controversial strategy of “earning to give,” Derek Parfit’s influence on contemporary ethics, the backlash against effective altruists, Angus Deaton’s critique of the efficacy of foreign aid, and other topics.

David Edmonds is a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at Oxford University and a former BBC radio journalist. He is the author or editor of many philosophy books (and one on chess!) which together have been translated into over two dozen languages. These include (with John Eidinow) the international best seller Wittgenstein’s Poker and, most recently, a biography, Parfit: A Philosopher and his Mission to Save Morality. David also hosts a couple of philosophy podcasts. Philosophy Bites, which he makes with Nigel Warburton has had over 45 million downloads.

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