Effective Altruism
- Free
- No certificate
- Beginner
- 1 week
Effective Altruism is Peter Singer's Princeton course on the idea that living a fully ethical life involves doing the most good one can. You examine the idea's philosophical underpinnings, meet people who have restructured their lives around it, and think about how to put it into practice yourself. The six modules are getting started, poverty and affluence, what is the best cause and how much we ought to do to help others, effective altruism and career choice, the giving game, and why act ethically.
The first module offers a refresher for those without a background in philosophy. Coursera labels the course beginner level with a flexible schedule and estimates one week at ten hours a week. The course page states that all the features of the course are available for free and that it does not offer a certificate upon completion, consistent with Princeton's policy that no credentials are awarded for its open courses.
What you’ll learn
- State the philosophical case that an ethical life means doing the most good one can
- Weigh the obligations of the affluent towards people in extreme poverty
- Compare causes and charities by how much good they do
- Consider how effective altruism bears on career choice
- Decide how far to act ethically in your own life
Who it’s for
Anyone thinking about giving, careers or ethics who wants a short, argument-driven course with no prerequisites and nothing to pay.
Syllabus
6 sections as listed on coursera.org, 12 h 27 min in total.
- Getting Started with the Course 4 h 4 min
- Poverty and Affluence 3 h 8 min
- What is the Best Cause? How Much Ought We Do to Help Others? 1 h 40 min
- Effective Altruism and Career Choice 1 h 7 min
- The Giving Game 36 min
- Why Act Ethically? 1 h 52 min
Instructor
- Peter Singer Ira W. Decamp Professor of Bioethics, University Center for Human Values, Princeton University
Course details
- Skills covered
- Program Evaluation
- Ethical Standards And Conduct
- Social Impact
- Philanthropy
- Includes
- 6 modules · 6 assignments
- Prerequisites
- No prior experience required
- Subtitles
- 22 languages
On coursera.org
Rated 4.7 out of 5 by 854 learners; 63,815 enrolled, as shown on the course page on 20 Oct 2026. These are coursera.org’s own figures, not ours.
Source: Princeton Online (opens in a new tab) · Verified · Report a change
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