Magnus Vinding: 16 books

This book is part introduction to, part reflective examination of, the idea and ideal of effective altruism. Its aim is to examine the core question of effective altruism: how can we best help others? A question that in turn forces us to contemplate what helping others, effectively or otherwise, really...

This essay attacks the “happy meat” position head-on. It argues that this position is morally indefensible, and that it not only causes immense amounts of suffering, but also, somewhat ironically, serves as the very foundation of our abuse of non-human beings today, and that this is all it ever...

The aim of this book is to examine our speciesism. This examination consists of two separate parts, where the first part shows why speciesism is unjustifiable, and hence why it must be rejected, while the second part examines the practical implications of this rejection. This latter examination is...

Ethics relates to the well-being of conscious beings. Once we admit this, one of the most fundamental and important questions we must ask ourselves is: who are the conscious beings? Who are the beings we should have moral concern for? This short book aims to provide a reasonable answer to this question,...

Should we go vegan?The unambiguous conclusion of this short book is "yes". This conclusion is reached through a broad examination of the consequences of our not being vegan – both in relation to human health, environmental pollution, the risk of the spread of diseases, and in relation to the beings...

What follows if we reject belief in any kind of non-physical soul and instead fully embrace what we know about the world? The main implication, this book argues, is a naturalization of personal identity and ethics. A radically different way of thinking about ourself. "A precondition of...

A lot of people are talking about “superintelligent AI” these days. But what are they talking about? Indeed, what is “intelligence” in the first place? This question is generally left unanswered, even unasked, in discussions about the perils and promises of artificial intelligence, which tends...

There are moral truths. There are truths about what matters in this world, and therefore also truths about how we should act in it. And we need to realize these truths, as such a realization itself will ignite a fundamental change for the better, both in our thinking, conduct and culture altogether. A fundamental change toward higher moral ground. Or so this book argues.

'Induction Is All We Got' is a collection of short essays on epistemology that deals mostly with the problem of induction, particularly what the status of induction is. Controversially, it argues that induction underlies all our beliefs.

“What is the meaning of life?” This is perhaps one of the biggest and most important questions to ask and answer, not least because the life we live inevitably reflects our answer to it, or lack thereof. But can we answer such a monumental question with the limited knowledge we have, and...

People who want to improve the world are, like everybody else, extremely biased. A prime example is that we tend to work on whatever cause we have stumbled upon so far, and to suppose, without deeper examination, that this cause is the most important one of all. Cause prioritization is the...

Do we have free will? Not many questions can excite people more than this one, and for good reasons. Our ideas about our own freedom influence some of the most important things in our lives, from our political decisions and legal practices to our personal motivations, choices and actions.  The...

Sentient beings should be granted moral consideration based on their sentience and nothing else. Fortunately, most of us now seem to realize this when it comes to humans: the sentience of human individuals alone implies that they should be granted full moral consideration. Neither their intelligence,...

This two-part essay argues that a vegan lifestyle is implied by core human values that we all share. The first part presents a simple argument for veganism based on an ethical principle we all hold valid, while the second part argues that veganism follows directly from a rejection of unjustifiable...