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Philosophy for the Long Run: Introduction to the Symposium on Longtermism — Moral Philosophy and Politics, De Gruyter (2025)
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An academic introduction to a philosophy symposium on longtermism; relevant to AI safety insofar as longtermism underpins much of the philosophical motivation for prioritizing existential and catastrophic risk reduction, including from advanced AI.
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Summary
This is the introduction to a 2025 academic symposium on longtermism published in Moral Philosophy and Politics, authored by Stefan Riedener. It frames longtermism as the view that positively influencing the long-term future is a key moral priority, outlines the core argument for the view, and sets the stage for critical philosophical examination of its foundations and implications.
Key Points
- •Longtermism holds that the key moral priority is positively influencing the far future—potentially spanning hundreds of thousands or millions of years.
- •The core argument rests on three premises: the future is enormous in scale, future beings matter morally as much as present ones, and some actions can probabilistically improve long-run outcomes.
- •The view is described as revisionary in its justification rather than necessarily in its recommended actions—present benefits matter comparatively little under strict longtermism.
- •The symposium brings together philosophical perspectives to critically evaluate whether longtermism is defensible, examining its assumptions about population ethics, uncertainty, and moral theory.
- •Published open-access in a peer-reviewed philosophy journal, signaling growing mainstream academic engagement with longtermist ideas.
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| Page | Type | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| Longtermism's Philosophical Credibility After FTX | -- | 50.0 |
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Philosophy for the Long Run: Introduction to the Symposium on Longtermism
Stefan Riedener
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March 27, 2025
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From the journal
Moral Philosophy and Politics
Volume 12 Issue 1
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Riedener, Stefan. "Philosophy for the Long Run: Introduction to the Symposium on Longtermism" Moral Philosophy and Politics , vol. 12, no. 1, 2025, pp. 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1515/mopp-2025-0012
Riedener, S. (2025). Philosophy for the Long Run: Introduction to the Symposium on Longtermism. Moral Philosophy and Politics , 12 (1), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1515/mopp-2025-0012
Riedener, S. (2025) Philosophy for the Long Run: Introduction to the Symposium on Longtermism. Moral Philosophy and Politics, Vol. 12 (Issue 1), pp. 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1515/mopp-2025-0012
Riedener, Stefan. "Philosophy for the Long Run: Introduction to the Symposium on Longtermism" Moral Philosophy and Politics 12, no. 1 (2025): 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1515/mopp-2025-0012
Riedener S. Philosophy for the Long Run: Introduction to the Symposium on Longtermism. Moral Philosophy and Politics . 2025;12(1): 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1515/mopp-2025-0012
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Longtermism is the view that a, or the key moral priority of our time is to positively influence the long-term future – the next hundreds of thousands or millions of years. [1] Suppose a government is deciding whether to invest in increased pensions, climate change measures, or foreign aid. According to standard longtermists, in man
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