The Ethics of Inefficacy: talks by Chrisoula Andreou (Utah) and Nikhil Venkatesh (King’s College London)

The ethics of inefficacy, online seminar with Chrisoula Andreou (Utah) and Nikhil Venkatesh (King’s College London), June 13 2025, 9AM-11AM Eastern Time / 15:00-17:00 Central European Time

Many significant outcomes arise from the combined actions of multiple individuals, even though no single action is pivotal to the result. Examples include addressing climate change, preventing overfishing, tackling injustices in the global garment industry, and divesting from unethical companies. While most agree that individuals have moral reasons to act in such scenarios, this raises a normative challenge – the “Inefficacy Problem”: When and why do individuals have reasons to act, even when their actions seem to make no discernible difference?

Since Parfit’s influential Reasons and Persons (1984), this question has sparked extensive philosophical inquiry. Recently, interest in the Inefficacy Problem has surged, generating lively debate among philosophers and beyond.

Speakers:

“Benevolence, Free-Riding, and Efficacy”

Chrisoula Andreou, University of Utah

“Collective Impact and the Problem of Mixed Optimality”

Nikhil Venkatesh, King’s College London

Location: virtual

Contact:

Please contact Rutger van Oeveren at rutgervanoeveren [at] gmail.com if you wish to attend for the zoom link.

This seminar is related to the following conference and edited volume on the Ethics of Inefficacy: https://www.gu.se/en/event/the-ethics-of-inefficacy, https://philevents.org/event/show/123182.