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The problem of collective impact: why helping doesn't do the trick
Stockholm University, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Philosophy. Institute for Futures Studies, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-7038-0673
Number of Authors: 12023 (English)In: Philosophical Studies, ISSN 0031-8116, E-ISSN 1573-0883, Vol. 180, no 8, p. 2377-2397Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Collective impact cases are situations where people collectively bring about a morally significant outcome by each acting in a certain way, and yet each individual action seems to make no, or almost no difference to the outcome. Intuitively, the beneficial or harmful outcomes give individuals moral reason to act (or refrain from acting) in collective impact situations. However, if the individual action does not make a difference to the outcome, it is not clear what those moral reasons are. The problem of collective impact is the challenge of identifying such moral reasons. Julia Nefsky has presented an account of how an individual action can help without making a difference - call it the Helping Account - that claims to provide a general solution to the problem of collective impact while avoiding problems faced by previously suggested solutions. I present an internal critique of Nefsky's work. First, I argue that, based on the problems that Nefsky has raised against previously suggested solutions, three success conditions for a general solution to the problem of collective impact can be formulated: The Weightiness condition, the Generalizability condition, and the Connectedness condition. Second, I argue that the Helping Account fails to satisfy the three success conditions, thereby failing, by Nefsky's own standards, to provide a general solution to the problem.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2023. Vol. 180, no 8, p. 2377-2397
Keywords [en]
Moral reasons, Collective impact, Difference-making, Helping, Julia Nefsky
National Category
Philosophy
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-230511DOI: 10.1007/s11098-023-01995-7ISI: 001009154200001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85161992710OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-230511DiVA, id: diva2:1867325
Available from: 2024-06-10 Created: 2024-06-10 Last updated: 2025-04-11Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Puzzles of Harm: Essays on Collective Action, Death, and Non-Existence
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Puzzles of Harm: Essays on Collective Action, Death, and Non-Existence
2025 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

This compilation thesis identifies and addresses four types of puzzling cases of harm involving individual agents. These types of cases are puzzling due to uncertainty, not regarding the nature of harm, but regarding its normative implications and instantiation under particular circumstances. The relevant types of cases can be divided into two broad categories. In the first category are cases in which we think individuals do harm or act wrongly on account of being involved in harm, but it is not clear what the relationship between the individual act and the harm is, or how the harm makes the act wrong. These cases arise for instance in collective impact situations, where many individual acts together bring about harmful outcomes. In the second category are cases in which it seems that individuals are harmed, but it is not clear whether or how the harm is instantiated. Puzzling cases of the second kind often arise where the alleged harm is tied to the person's coming into or going out of existence, or where birth or death separates the subject of harm from the act or event that supposedly causes it. Papers 1 and 2 each address a puzzling case of harm within the ethics of collective action, while Papers 3 and 4 each address a puzzling case of harm within the philosophy of death and non-existence.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Stockholm: Department of Philosophy, Stockholm University, 2025. p. 15
Keywords
Harm, Collective action, Moral reasons, Oppression, Death, Non-existence, Posthumous harm, Pessimism, Suicide
National Category
Philosophy
Research subject
Philosophy
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:su:diva-241986 (URN)978-91-8107-238-9 (ISBN)978-91-8107-239-6 (ISBN)
Public defence
2025-06-05, Hörsal 9, hus D, Universitetsvägen 10D, Stockholm, 13:00 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2025-05-13 Created: 2025-04-11 Last updated: 2025-04-30Bibliographically approved

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