Although, thinking about it a bit more, I think this is not quite right:
To which I say: yes, that motivation comes from non-EA ethical commitments.
Scott explains his motivation for donating a kidney in My left kidney:
It starts with wanting, just once, do a good thing that will make people like you more instead of less. It would be morally fraught to do this with money, since any money you spent on improving your self-image would be denied to the people in malarial regions of Africa who need it the most. But it’s not like there’s anything else you can do with that spare kidney.
Still, it’s not just about that. All of this calculating and funging takes a psychic toll. Your brain uses the same emotional heuristics as everyone else’s. No matter how contrarian you pretend to be, deep down it’s hard to make your emotions track what you know is right and not what the rest of the world is telling you. The last Guardian opinion columnist who must be defeated is the Guardian opinion columnist inside your own heart. You want to do just one good thing that you’ll feel unreservedly good about, and where you know somebody’s going to be directly happy at the end of it in a way that doesn’t depend on a giant rickety tower of assumptions.
I see no reason to disbelieve his self-description, and wouldn’t describe that as a “non-EA ethical commitment” (though obviously it can’t be described as an “EA ethical commitment” either).
Although, thinking about it a bit more, I think this is not quite right:
Scott explains his motivation for donating a kidney in My left kidney:
I see no reason to disbelieve his self-description, and wouldn’t describe that as a “non-EA ethical commitment” (though obviously it can’t be described as an “EA ethical commitment” either).