If we are to believe Caroline Ellison, Sam Bankman-Fried’s ex-girlfriend and one-time office colleague at Alameda Research, his moneymaking was motivated by a belief in utilitarianism (“Ex-Alameda chief Ellison steps out of Bankman-Fried’s shadow as star witness”, Report, October 14).
Bankman-Fried, Ellison tells the court, thought that “the only moral rule that mattered was doing whatever would maximise utility” — meaning “the greatest good for the greatest number of people”. “He believed that the ways that people tried to justify rules like ‘don’t lie’ and ‘don’t steal’ within utilitarianism didn’t work,” you quote her as saying.
Bankman-Fried’s downfall is a good illustration of why Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill and the other great utilitarians have advised against the use of the theory to guide all one’s actions, all of the time.
Rather, one should act on those moral principles that one has been taught and that stand up to reflection (such as not to lie or steal), and be a great deal more generous than most people are.
Roger Crisp
Professor of Moral Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford, UK
