Prof Luc Bovens and Mr Stephan Chambers

Professor Bovens will deliver the weekly lectures and the seminars based on lecture material; Stephan Chambers, Marshall Institute Director, will arrange and chair the bi-weekly discussion with leaders in philanthropy.

This course is available on the BSc in Management, BSc in Philosophy and Economics, BSc in Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, BSc in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and BSc in Politics and Philosophy. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.

This is 3rd-year level course, open to students from any degree in LSE. Interested second-year students can apply to the lecturer for permission to take the course. 

The course will address key questions in philosophy and social science concerning philanthropy, including:

• Which motives actually drive philanthropy and which motives should drive it?

• What is the nature and extent of our moral obligations to philanthropy?

• Is the proper aim of philanthropy to ‘do the most good’?

• How should the good aimed at be conceived of and measured?

• How, if at all, should people’s rights and the risks of causing harm constrain the pursuit of the good?

• What are a charitable organisation’s duties of accountability towards its stakeholders (e.g. donors and employees) and those whose lives it aims to affect?

• Which career and personal choices should one make in order to further philanthropic aims?

• Which moral principles govern the relationship between the state and private philanthropy? Between corporations and charities?

Learning aims:

• Students will learn about key contemporary debates in the ethics of philanthropy through critical engagement with the philosophical literature.

• Students will learn how to use both social science and normative (ethical and methodological) reasoning to assess philanthropic organisations.

• Students will gain knowledge of philanthropy in action via case studies that highlight key methodological and ethical issues and via discussions with professionals with extensive experience of the sector in bi-weekly, supplementary talks and Q&A sessions.

10 hours of lectures, 5 hours of seminars and 10 hours of classes in the LT.

In Lent term: 1 hour lecture per week (x 10), fortnightly 1 hour additional ‘philanthropy in practice’ guest lecture and seminar with leading figures in philanthropy organised by the Marshall Institute; seminars: 1 hour per week (maximum of 15 per seminar). 

Students will be expected to produce 1 essay and 2 presentations in the LT.

There is one formative essay and there are two formative team presentations based on case studies.

Deen Chatterjee (ed.) The Ethics of Assistance: Morality and the Distant Needy. Cambridge University Press.

Joshua Cohen (2010). ‘Philosophy, Social Science, and Global Poverty.’ In: Jaggar, A. (ed.) Thomas Pogge and his Critics. 1 ed.: Polity

Patricia Illingworth, Thomas Pogge, and Leif Wenar (eds.) (2010). Giving Well: The Ethics of Philanthropy. Oxford University Press.

William McAskill (2015). Doing Good Better: Effective Altruism and How You Can Make a Difference. Gotham.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (2014) The Rwandan Refugee Camps in Tanzania and Zaire 1994-1995. http://www.msf-crash.org/en/publications/

Rob Reich, Lucy Bernholz, Chiara Cordelli, (eds.) (forthcoming). Philanthropy in Democratic Societies, University of Chicago Press.

Jennifer Rubinstein (2015) Between Samaritans and States: The Political Ethics of Humanitarian INGOs. Oxford University Press.

Samuel Scheffler (1994). The Rejection of Consequentialism. Oxford University Press.

Peter Singer (1974). ‘Famine, Affluence and Morality’ Philosophy and Public Affairs.

Peter Singer (2015). The Most Good You Can Do. Yale University Press.

Bernard Williams (1973) ‘A critique of utilitarianism’, in Utilitarianism: For and against. With J.J.C. Smart. Cambridge University Press.

Indicative reading

Luc Bovens, ‘Why I am not an effective altruist’ (manuscript)

J. T. Car, Paljärvi, M. Car, A. Kazeem, A. Majeed, R. Atun (2012). ‘Negative health system effects of Global Fund’s investments in AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria from 2002 to 2009: systematic review.’ J R Soc Med Sh Rep 3:70.

Deen Chatterjee (ed.) The Ethics of Assistance: Morality and the Distant Needy. Cambridge University Press.

Joshua Cohen (2010). ‘Philosophy, Social Science, and Global Poverty.’ In: Jaggar, A. (ed.) Thomas Pogge and his Critics. 1 ed.: Polity

Angus Deaton (2009) ‘Instruments of Development: Randomization in the Tropics’. NBER working paper.

John Doris and Stephen Stich (2006) ‘Moral Psychology’, Section 5 on Egoism and Altruism in The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy.

Michael Edwards (2010) Small Change: Why business won't save the world. Berrett-Koehler.

Michael Ewards (2008) Just Another Emperor: The Myths and Realities of Philanthrocapitalism, Demos

K.A. Grépin (2012). ‘Health Services In Sub-Saharan Africa: HIV Donor Funding Has Both Boosted And Curbed The Delivery Of Different Non-HIV. Health Affairs, 31, no.7:1406-1414.

David Hume (1740) A Treatise on Human Nature, Book III (excerpts on moral motivation).

David Hume (1751) Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (excerpts on moral motivation).

Patricia Illingworth, Thomas Pogge, and Leif Wenar (eds.) (2010). Giving Well: The Ethics of Philanthropy. Oxford University Press.

William McAskill (2015). Doing Good Better: Effective Altruism and How You Can Make a Difference. Gotham.

Lindsey McGoey, (2012) 'Philanthrocapitalism and Its Critics' Poetics 40 (2012) 185–199.

Alice Obrecht (2014) “NGO Accountability: The Civil Society Actor Model for NGO-Stakeholder Relationships.” In: Brooks, T. (ed.) New Waves in Global Justice.

Thomas Pogge (2008). World Poverty and Human Rights, Polity.

Martin Ravaillion (2014) ‘Taking Ethical Validity Seriously’ World Bank https://blogs.worldbank.org/impactevaluations/taking-ethical-validity-seriously

Medecins Sans Frontieres (2014) The Rwandan Refugee Camps in Tanzania and Zaire 1994-1995. http://www.msf-crash.org/en/publications/

Robert Reich (2014) “Gift Giving and Philanthropy in Market Democracy,”  Critical Review Vol. 26, Nos. 3-4.

Rob Reich, Lucy Bernholz, Chiara Cordelli, (eds.) (forthcoming). Philanthropy in Democratic Societies, University of Chicago Press.

Roger Riddell (2014): ‘Does Aid Really Work’. Keynote Address to the Australasian Aid and International Development Workshop. http://devpolicy.org/2014-Australasian-Aid-and-International-Development-Policy-Workshop/Roger-Riddell-Background-Paper.pdf

Jennifer Rubinstein (2015) Between Samaritans and States: The Political Ethics of Humanitarian INGOs. Oxford University Press.

Dale Russakoff (2015) The prize: Who’s in charge of America’s schools? HMH Press.

Warren Quinn (1994) ‘Actions, intentions, and consequences: the doctrine of doing and allowing’ and ‘Actions, intentions, and consequences: the doctrine of double effect’. In Morality and Action. Cambridge University Press.

Samuel Scheffler (1994). The Rejection of Consequentialism. Oxford University Press.

Peter Singer (1974). ‘Famine, Affluence and Morality’ Philosophy and Public Affairs.

Peter Singer (2015). The Most Good You Can Do. Yale University Press.

Bernard Williams (1973) ‘A critique of utilitarianism’, in Utilitarianism: For and against. With J.J.C. Smart. Cambridge University Press.

Exam (65%, duration: 2 hours) in the main exam period.
Essay (25%, 1500 words) in the ST.
In class assessment (10%) in the LT.