--- title: Rousseau Predicted a Problem With Sam Bankman-Fried’s Plan description: The philosopher explained why something like effective altruism was fatally flawed. canonical: https://time.com/6958408/sam-bankman-fried-effective-altruism-rousseau/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-03-28T12:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:52:31.858Z article:section: History og:title: Rousseau Predicted a Problem With Sam Bankman-Fried’s Plan og:description: The philosopher explained, almost 300 years ago, why something like effective altruism was fatally flawed. og:url: https://time.com/6958408/sam-bankman-fried-effective-altruism-rousseau/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6f3485fcf59478f/698a550b09208f397a41cf65/sam-bankman-fried-jean-jacques-rousseau.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: sam-bankman-fried-jean-jacques-rousseau og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rousseau Predicted a Problem With Sam Bankman-Fried’s Plan twitter:description: The philosopher explained, almost 300 years ago, why something like effective altruism was fatally flawed. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6f3485fcf59478f/698a550b09208f397a41cf65/sam-bankman-fried-jean-jacques-rousseau.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Philosopher Who Critiqued Effective Altruism More Than 250 Years Ago ## Video: The Rise & Fall of Sam Bankman-Fried [Watch (HLS stream): The Rise & Fall of Sam Bankman-Fried](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Vm8TryfU.m3u8) (7:44)  _Published 2023-11-04. It took exactly one year for Sam Bankman-Fried to transform from beloved billionaire entrepreneur to convicted felon. On Nov. 2, a New York jury found Bankman-Fried guilty on all seven counts he was charged with by the Department of Justice. TIME Tech Correspondent Andrew Chow watched the trial unfold from the courtroom and breaks down the case._ by [David Lay Williams and Michael Locke McLendon / Made by History](/author/made-by-history/) ## David Lay Williams and Michael Locke McLendon / Made by History Mar 28, 2024 12:00 PM CUT  Sam Bankman-Fried; Jean-Jacques Rousseau Sam Bankman-Fried; Jean-Jacques RousseauDrew Angerer—Getty Images; Picturenow/Universal Images Group/Getty Images by [David Lay Williams and Michael Locke McLendon / Made by History](/author/made-by-history/) ## David Lay Williams and Michael Locke McLendon / Made by History Mar 28, 2024 12:00 PM CUT On March 28, Federal Judge Lewis A. Kaplan will sentence former FTX chairman Sam Bankman-Fried on seven separate counts of fraud and conspiracy, with federal prosecutors [asking for a sentence](https://urldefense.com/v3/%5F%5Fhttps://apnews.com/article/sam-bankman-fried-court-ftx-21b1fd99ac841d7fe90b90c96c3a9a5d%5F%5F;!!IBzWLUs!UchKxk6J%5FAEFL8tWooEvaT2o4tzne4orbQwRH4Y9Vam8TpSpMum-RyXZMMubfKr7BPT65MeIga8SrQuB-AF%5Fsmy-ItrYemw$ "undefined") of 40 to 50 years behind bars. In some respects, Bankman-Fried’s story is familiar. He is hardly the first prominent figure in the financial world to face consequences for some very poor decisions. But his origins story is relatively unique, insofar as it has been widely reported that he was driven to acquire his fortune in order to carry out what philosophers call “[effective altruism](https://urldefense.com/v3/%5F%5Fhttps://time.com/6204627/effective-altruism-longtermism-william-macaskill-interview/%5F%5F;!!IBzWLUs!UchKxk6J%5FAEFL8tWooEvaT2o4tzne4orbQwRH4Y9Vam8TpSpMum-RyXZMMubfKr7BPT65MeIga8SrQuB-AF%5Fsmy-NIrRJ-U$ "undefined"),” or “E.A.” for short. The prominent philosopher and effective altruism advocate [Peter Singer has argued](https://urldefense.com/v3/%5F%5Fhttps://books.google.com/books?id=GriFBwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=The%2AMost%2AGood%2AYou%2ACan%2ADo:%2AHow%2AEffective%2AAltruism%2AIs%2AChanging%2AIdeas%2AAbout%2ALiving%2AEthically&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks%5Fredir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjUgsiHkbqCAxXgm4kEHWH7A2EQ6AF6BAgHEAI%2A252523v=onepage&q=The%2A25252520Most%2A25252520Good%2A25252520You%2A25252520Can%2A25252520Do:%2A25252520How%2A25252520Effective%2A25252520Altruism%2A25252520Is%2A25252520Changing%2A25252520Ideas%2A25252520About%2A25252520Living%2A25252520Ethically&f=false%5F%5F;KysrKysrKysrKysrKyslJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSU!!IBzWLUs!UchKxk6J%5FAEFL8tWooEvaT2o4tzne4orbQwRH4Y9Vam8TpSpMum-RyXZMMubfKr7BPT65MeIga8SrQuB-AF%5Fsmy-79h-IgY$ "undefined") that it “is based on a very simple idea: we should do the most good we can.” In this spirit, Singer highlights the potential of wealthy philanthropists to reduce suffering and make the world a better place through outsized charitable donations. During college, Bankman-Fried met with one of the other “stars” of the E.A. movement, Oxford philosopher [William MacAskill](https://time.com/6204627/effective-altruism-longtermism-william-macaskill-interview/ "undefined"), co-founder of the Centre for Effective Altruism, who [sold the future crypto magnate on an approach](https://urldefense.com/v3/%5F%5Fhttps://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/14/business/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-crypto.html%5F%5F;!!IBzWLUs!UchKxk6J%5FAEFL8tWooEvaT2o4tzne4orbQwRH4Y9Vam8TpSpMum-RyXZMMubfKr7BPT65MeIga8SrQuB-AF%5Fsmy--kssewo$ "undefined") to giving called “earning to give” — that is, pursuing a large fortune in industry, only to give it away in ways that promote the greatest good. Bankman-Fried bought the pitch. But the plan was doomed from the outset — and MacAskill and Bankman-Fried would’ve known it had they studied the writings of the eccentric political philosopher [Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://urldefense.com/v3/%5F%5Fhttps://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rousseau/%5F%5F;!!IBzWLUs!UchKxk6J%5FAEFL8tWooEvaT2o4tzne4orbQwRH4Y9Vam8TpSpMum-RyXZMMubfKr7BPT65MeIga8SrQuB-AF%5Fsmy-OfiNa80$ "undefined") (1712-1778), who pointed out fatal flaws in a plan that looked exactly like Bankman-Fried’s more than 250 years ago. **_Read More:_** [Exclusive: Effective Altruist Leaders Were Repeatedly Warned About Sam Bankman-Fried Years Before FTX Collapsed](https://time.com/6262810/sam-bankman-fried-effective-altruism-alameda-ftx/ "undefined") Rousseau was, if anything, more famous a philosopher than Singer and MacAskill in an age when intellectuals were revered as society’s most illustrious celebrities. The Swiss thinker acquired his fame with essays and books on moral and political philosophy, such as his _Discourse on the Science and the Arts,_ the _Discourse on the Origins of Inequality, The Social Contract,_ and _Emile,_ in which he defended the working class, praised moral virtue, railed against economic inequality, and condemned his contemporaries for their indifference to the suffering around them. Upon attaining status as a kind of moral guru, Rousseau began receiving regular correspondence from admirers. Often letters asked him how to implement his ideas in people’s daily lives. Rousseau liked expressing his thoughts so much in the letter format that when he wanted to address a matter he was not asked about, he simply invented a correspondent for the occasion. Such were the origins of his brief _Discourse on Wealth_ or [_On Wealth and Fragments on Taste_](https://urldefense.com/v3/%5F%5Fhttps://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/P/bo44894281.html%5F%5F;!!IBzWLUs!UchKxk6J%5FAEFL8tWooEvaT2o4tzne4orbQwRH4Y9Vam8TpSpMum-RyXZMMubfKr7BPT65MeIga8SrQuB-AF%5Fsmy-Q1DytgQ$ "undefined"), probably written around 1755-56, in which Rousseau replied to an imaginary correspondent, whom he dubbed “my dear Chrysophile” (or “lover of gold”). In the discourse, Rousseau claims to be responding to an “ambitious young man,” who had decided after reading the philosopher’s essays to dedicate his life to helping others. Rousseau quoted the fictional admirer as writing, “I aspire to fortune, but it is in order to atone for its injustices.” Chrysophile lamented his powerlessness when he saw someone suffering and couldn’t alleviate their misery. To him the solution was clear because a “benevolent rich man” was “the agent of the divinity here below, the glory of the human race.” He would, in other words, seek a great fortune in order to serve the poor. In his response, Rousseau cautioned against this plan, remarking that extraordinary wealth was typically obtained in morally dubious ways. Often, gaining such wealth relied on an unjust economic system that effectively kept people impoverished and in a cruel state of dependency just so that the wealthy and powerful could glory in giving alms to them. Necessary systemic change was replaced with charity. But Rousseau’s most compelling insight was psychological. He understood that a paradox lay at the heart of the philosophy proposed by his fictional correspondent. Creating wealth required selfishness and avarice. Charity, by contrast, demanded generosity. Decades spent greedily chasing profits would render it nearly impossible to maintain one’s philanthropic impulses. Rousseau thus counseled Chrysophile, “I have difficulty seeing how you will be able to accumulate these profits without deviating from your principles,” further adding that “your ideas and your maxims will change along with your situation.” He predicted that upon acquiring great riches, Chrysophile would eventually do anything to protect and grow his own fortune, regardless of his original good intentions. **_Read More:_** [The Bombshell Evidence That Led to Sam Bankman-Fried’s Conviction](https://time.com/6330323/sbf-trial-biggest-bombshells/ "undefined") He also cautioned that great riches disconnect people from the intended recipients of charity. Rousseau observed that those who accumulated wealth often came to despise the poor and actively avoided interacting with them. At the very least, they struggled to empathize with them, for “when one believes oneself above the ills of humanity one no longer pities them in others.” As he would [write elsewhere](https://urldefense.com/v3/%5F%5Fhttps://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801490712/politics-and-the-arts/%2A252523bookTabs=1%5F%5F;JQ!!IBzWLUs!UchKxk6J%5FAEFL8tWooEvaT2o4tzne4orbQwRH4Y9Vam8TpSpMum-RyXZMMubfKr7BPT65MeIga8SrQuB-AF%5Fsmy-3enZe7w$ "undefined"), the path to great fortune was often paved by the underlying assumption that one was above the laws. Rousseau concluded with this judgment of Chrysophile’s character: “either you are seeking to deceive others,” in the hopes of convincing them he was a better person than he actually was, “or your heart is deceiving you by disguising your avarice to you under the appearance of humanity.”  All of Rosseau’s critiques of Chrysophile’s plan could apply to the modern philosophy of E.A., and suggest that Bankman-Fried’s story was always likely to turn out this way. As philosophers consider the implications of the fallen crypto king for E.A., they’d be wise to recall the ideas of Rousseau. The sort of plan offered by MacAskill to Bankman-Fried sounds good in theory. But Rousseau argued that it was impossible to accumulate the sort of wealth envisioned by MacAskill without losing the ability to empathize with the poor and eventually prioritizing one’s own wealth and status above all. Had MacAskill and Bankman-Fried read the famous philosopher’s _Discourse on Wealth_, they might well have paused before traveling down the path that seems likely to land Bankman-Fried in prison for decades. [_David Lay Williams_](https://las.depaul.edu/academics/political-science/faculty/Pages/david-lay-williams.aspx "undefined") _is professor of political science at DePaul University. He is co-editor of_ [The Cambridge Companion to Rousseau’s ‘Social Contract’](https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/subjects/politics-international-relations/political-theory/cambridge-companion-rousseaus-social-contract?format=PB "undefined") (_with Matthew W. Maguire) and author of the forthcoming_ [The Greatest of All Plagues: How Economic Inequality Shaped Political Thought from Plato to Marx](https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691171975/the-greatest-of-all-plagues "undefined") _(Princeton, 2024)._ [_Michael Locke McLendon_](https://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/michael-l-mclendon-phd "undefined") _is professor of political science at California State University, Los Angeles and author of_ [The Psychology of Inequality: Rousseau’s _Amour-Propre_](https://www.pennpress.org/9780812250763/the-psychology-of-inequality/ "undefined") _(UPenn, 2018)._ _Made by History takes readers beyond the headlines with articles written and edited by professional historians._ [_Learn more about Made by History at TIME here_](https://time.com/6317798/introducing-made-by-history-for-time/ "undefined")_._ _Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of TIME editors_. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6958408/sam-bankman-fried-effective-altruism-rousseau/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6958408/sam-bankman-fried-effective-altruism-rousseau/"},"headline":"The Philosopher Who Critiqued Effective Altruism More Than 250 Years Ago","datePublished":"2024-03-28T12:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:52:31.858Z","description":"The philosopher explained, almost 300 years before Sam Bankman-Fried, why something like effective altruism was fatally flawed.","url":"https://time.com/6958408/sam-bankman-fried-effective-altruism-rousseau/","keywords":["Made by History","freelance"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6f3485fcf59478f/698a550b09208f397a41cf65/sam-bankman-fried-jean-jacques-rousseau.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"David Lay Williams and Michael Locke McLendon / Made by History"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6f3485fcf59478f/698a550b09208f397a41cf65/sam-bankman-fried-jean-jacques-rousseau.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"sam-bankman-fried-jean-jacques-rousseau","caption":"A side by side image of Sam Bankman-Fried and Jean-Jacques Rousseau","creditText":"Drew Angerer—Getty Images; Picturenow/Universal Images Group/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/made-by-history/","name":"Made by History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6958408/sam-bankman-fried-effective-altruism-rousseau/","name":"The Philosopher Who Critiqued Effective Altruism More Than 250 Years Ago"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Rise & Fall of Sam Bankman-Fried","description":"It took exactly one year for Sam Bankman-Fried to transform from beloved billionaire entrepreneur to convicted felon. 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