Time Bias and Altruism: Response to Sung

Abstract Leora Sung argues that the phenomenon of near-future bias strengthens our duties of charitable giving and puts moral pressure on our decisions regarding savings and investment. I raise two objections to Sung’s argument. First, Sung’s argument relies on a crucial rational-choice-theoretic result which she erroneously claims is derivable from very thin facts about near-future bias, but which in fact holds only under atypical circumstances. Second, I argue that Sung’s account assigns an implausible morally determinative role to subjective preferences. I conclude by noting that the most natural responses to my two objections push in inconsistent directions, making the two objections collectively decisive against Sung’s argument.