Excellent way to reflect and learn on how one can be more ethical in their day to day existence:)

I could not justify giving it 5 stars because I felt that the course should have presented all the arguments in greater detail. I understand that it is called effective altruism, and not simply ethics, but I do believe that convincing me of your philosophy does necessitate both a more careful rejection of the others, as well as developing all of the arguments in sufficient detail. This was actually a reason why I left the course early on, but then decided to re-enroll -- to let Prof. Singer have a chance at presenting his own argument in a more complete manner.

The course is necessary. I agree with Prof. Singer's observation that consumerism has insufficient meaning for many, and that by trying to live more ethically, we can give meaning to, or discover meaning in our own lives.

I could not justify giving any fewer than four stars because clearly the course content is above average. Prof. Singer is passionate about the cause, is earnestly trying to build a community around it, and this shows in the content. I can certainly say that the course made me deeply reflect on my own views on the topic, and perhaps it will do the same for you.

This was a pretty good course for people who are looking to become effective altruists- not so good for people who want a purely philosophical take on the concept of effective altruism. I found the readings way too long and dull and the quizzes and assignments were completely ineffective (they repeated the quiz questions in the assignments).

Too many lectures, specialized audience with huge competition, not accessible by novices of philosophy and only assessed through a single peer-reviewed assignment-essay.

I always had a confusion on how should one rate charities. It is clearly explained that one can evaluate different charities in a plausible manner. Another important point is that it argues that those who are well-off have a moral obligation of giving to those in need. The readings suggested in the course are a really important part of the course. The interviews with Zell Kravinsky, Julia Wise and Alexander give a different way of looking at life.

Outcome:

I will be more vigilant to evaluate the institutions that I will be donating to, even if the amount of donation is very less.

This course is very meaningful and enlightens one's perspective of life, from the beginning we see different philosopher's opinion towards morality and ethic and step by step discover the reasonable parts and flawed or controversial thinking. There are people doing more for others, even donate a kidney to a complete stranger, all of the activities makes me review the way how we live our lives and is there anything I could do to change or help?

I came across this course after completing the course of 'Moralities of everyday life', and I took a keen interest in wanting to take this course being presented by professor 'Peter Singer', and I would highly recommend this course to anyone interested in learning about altruism and the little bits of philosophy included. I'd like to thank, Professor Peter Singer for making this course worth taking it was quite Good and I enjoyed it.

I liked that the course was very applicable/hands-on. It presented philosophical theories to lay the foundations before introducing to us cases or real-life examples. I particularly enjoyed the lectures on ethical careers because of the guest speakers and was engaged by their experiences and the "realness" that they were able to present to the students.

This course has given me very useful tools in order to have better criteria when it comes to donating and making voluntary contributions to social impact innovative projects .

Grateful greetings to Prof. Peter Singer

Excellent course. I learnt a lot about charity organizations around the world and how we can help too

Excellent course, great experience, thank you so much to offer this course.

made me think, and re-think, my ideas about the right thing(s) to do

Peter Singer inspired me to be a better human in this course. <3

Great course. Lots of interesting speakers and resources

very complex, super challenging and helpful

one of the best courses on coursera

I love the theory in this course.

Very interesting and informative

Enlightening and inspiring!

Amazing course.

I took this course to suppliment Professor Paul Bloom's course "Moralities of Everyday Life." That was an entertaining course, and Professor Bloom spoke of Peter Singer as having a massive influence on his ideas, so I chose to check this one out to see what it's about.I'm grateful for "Effective Altruism" course because it shined light on some important considerations that are often overlooked when deciding how to give charity. It was eye-opening and counter-cultural. He does not tell us "follow your heart to do the most good." Proffesor Singer also does not believe that empathy and seeing the people you help as individuals is necessary to do good. Instead, he believes that it is our duty to try to do what will bring the most benefit to the most people.I can see how some people might be put off by the dispassionate nature of this course's content. The "effective" in "effective altruism" is key here. If you want guidance into what charities will produce the best results, this is for you; if you are looking for guidance into how to love others indiscriminately and find the drive to work towards it in your life, I would instead recommend the course "Love as a Force for Social Justice" from Stanford.There was some discussion of the philosophy behind altrusim and morality, but this was an overall practical class. Professor Singer's brought in real life examples of people who engage in effective altrusim, and he introduced certain charities and organizations to us to learn how they operate behind the scenes. In the former cases, the lectures appeared to be recorded in his actual classes he taught, so a "live" Q&A was possible between the students and the guests.There are many information-packed reading suggestions, although reading is not required to get the course certificate. Some of the articles were easy to access online. Others, it appeared the only way to get them was in print. They were packed with facts and opinions. Although I finished the course, I'm still trying to read through all these interesting and pertinent articles.Taken as a whole, it was thought-provoking and undeniably vital in developing my strategy for how I donate to charities. However, are certain cardinal assumptions that I felt may have been overstated and simplistically presented. For example, overwhelming, the focus was on developing countries' plights (e.g. malaria, HIV/Aids, undernourishment), "effective" often seemed implicitly defined by "the number of lives saved" not improved, and the gain versus cost monetary-wise was the way that it was measured. This rubbed me the wrong way as a sustainability major; when the focus was on saving the most lives possible immediately and solely through how money is spent, it seemed to make sacrifices in other important areas- resource allocation, nested power struggles, and soil health to name a few- for fighting poverty.This is certainly a great course to begin learning about the steps you can take towards effective altruism, but it is also not an end point. The ideas presented here for making the greatest impact are just that- opinions and ideas. Use the tools and knowledge and experience and skills you have in addition to the suggestions and resources in this course to decide how you will engage in "effective altruism."Thank you for taking the time to create this, Professor Singer and all that took part.

Well balanced approach that invites multiple perspectives on ultruism. I would have liked to see the objections against ultruism of Ayn Rand being addressed in the course but I suppose it is difficult to give a course that addresses all aspects of a given topic. But Ayn Rand had a definite contradictory viewpoint and it would have enhanced the class tremendously if it had been considered.

Although very much focused on altruism through giving to charities and less on daily life, I found this course very interesting and it certainly gave me another perspective regarding altruism and charities. Tip: I followed this course with a few friends of mine and we did a mini-Giving Game! Although we couldn't choose so we ended up doubling our money and giving to two charities.

Solid course, makes the case both for acting ethically, and for rationally choosing how to carry out those ethical activities. I had heard most of these arguments before and was already convinced by them; but if you are looking to figure out how to do more good with your life, it is a good course.

Pretty good but relatively basic/introductory in it's coverage of moral philosophy - if you already know about the basics of consequentialism vs deontology, basic metaethics, etc. just skip the first and last week