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EPUB-ebook in english (with Adobe DRM) On What Matters is a major work in moral philosophy. It is the long-awaited follow-up to Derek Parfit's 1984 book Reasons and Persons, one of the landmarks of twentieth-century philosophy. Derek Parfit presents the third volume of On What Matters, his landmark work of moral philosophy. Parfit develops further his influential treatment of reasons, normativity, the meaning of moral discourse, and the status of morality. On What Matters: Volume Three - Kindle edition by Derek Parfit. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading On What Matters: Volume Three.
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On What Matters is a major work in moral philosophy. It is the long-awaited follow-up to Derek Parfit's 1984 book Reasons and Persons, one of the landmarks of twentieth-century philosophy. In this first volume Parfit presents a powerful new treatment of reasons and rationality, and a critical examination of three systematic moral theories -- Kant's ethics, contractualism,...more
Published June 20th 2011 by Oxford University Press, USA (first published May 26th 2011)
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Effective Altruism Books
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Parfit argues for an objective theory of ethics; one in which objects, acts, and so forth, generate sufficient reasons for action, not merely our desires. He starts by arguing against the insufficiency of subjectivist accounts saying that they lead to manifest absurdities such as a person desiring to waste his life in trivialities is not wrong, nor is someone who desires pain for no particular reason (and not because they get pleasure from it). He then goes on to argue for his triple theory comb...more
Another very clearly written, rigorously argued book from Parfit, as you would expect. I was initially ambivalent about the contention between objective and subjective reasons, but have been strongly convinced by Parfit that there are objective reasons. Although his Kantian argument was well-argued, I am not so convinced that it is necessary (or perhaps relevant) for two reasons: (1) I am unconvinced that there are any reasons in addition to agent-neutral or impartial reasons, and (2) I am uncon...more
Derek Parfit On What Matters
May 25, 2011John rated it it was amazing
Since I started studying philosophy, only three books have given me the feeling that drew me to philosophy in the first place: the feeling that every cell in my brain is completely engaged. Two of them are by Derek Parfit, which is a particularly impressive record, considering he's only written two books.
The third is by G.A. Cohen, incidentally, who was a colleague, if that’s the word, of Parfit’s at All Souls, Oxford. Whether that’s an argument for the value of total immersion in scholarly res...more
The third is by G.A. Cohen, incidentally, who was a colleague, if that’s the word, of Parfit’s at All Souls, Oxford. Whether that’s an argument for the value of total immersion in scholarly res...more
Sep 18, 2012Heather Pagano rated it really liked it
As an amateur philosopher I loved the first half of this book. It convinced me that ethics could be approached with the same rigor as analytic philosophy. Parfit's style of building a case slowly and methodically, then suddenly ending the chapter with simple statement of thesis, took me awhile to get used to, but I learned to expect these abrupt chapter conclusions. This tendency toward abrupt conclusions was amplified in the overall structure of the volume, which for me rushed to thesis stateme...more
Two great passages:
-'... the Golden Rule is theoretically inferior [to 2 other principles]. But this rule may be, for practical purposes, the best of these three principles. By requiring us to imagine ourselves in other people's position, the Golden Rule may provide what is psychologically the most effective way of making us more impartial, and morally motivating us. That may be why this rule has been the world's most widely accepted fundamental moral idea' (330).
- quoting Williams: 'deep attach...more
-'... the Golden Rule is theoretically inferior [to 2 other principles]. But this rule may be, for practical purposes, the best of these three principles. By requiring us to imagine ourselves in other people's position, the Golden Rule may provide what is psychologically the most effective way of making us more impartial, and morally motivating us. That may be why this rule has been the world's most widely accepted fundamental moral idea' (330).
- quoting Williams: 'deep attach...more
Apr 29, 2012Hannah Grace rated it really liked it
I don't agree with all the arguments Parfit presents (he's a cognitive realist about both reasons and morals, a believer in normative, objective truths, which I find difficult to swallow) but his prose is clear and concise and he's really freaking smart. Also, this tumblr exists, which just makes me happy: http://onwhatmatters.tumblr.com/
This is a highly acclaimed book by a distinguished philosopher but what is Parfit up to here?
Essentially, the bookinvolves two primary claims. First, Parfit defends a realist view of reasons or value. This view contrasts with expressivist and subjectivist theories of reasons. Parfit's arguments are often convincing but they basically rest on the intuitive idea that things are good or bad - he often uses unnecessary suffering as an example - independently of the agent's desires or aims. Parfit ar...more
Essentially, the bookinvolves two primary claims. First, Parfit defends a realist view of reasons or value. This view contrasts with expressivist and subjectivist theories of reasons. Parfit's arguments are often convincing but they basically rest on the intuitive idea that things are good or bad - he often uses unnecessary suffering as an example - independently of the agent's desires or aims. Parfit ar...more
More focused on the step-by-step explanation about why Kantian and Contrarianism philosopies are essentially just different lenses on Altruism than on the underlying titular topic.
If you're into Kant, this is definitely worth the read. He writes clearly enough to be followed. I'm not sure if what I didn't like about it was Parfit's fault or rather the direction that philosophy has headed in recently. It seems bizarre to me to try to generalize moral principles on very strange thought experiments.
On What Doesn't Matter would be a more appropriate title.
This is an argument without a plan, and with no real conclusion. Broadly, it reduces to a rose-tinted defense of Kant.
This is an argument without a plan, and with no real conclusion. Broadly, it reduces to a rose-tinted defense of Kant.
Challenging to read but once you get into his line of arguments it is very interesting.
the loneliest point in my life was when i asked for this for christmas and had to work over the holiday break and spent new years eve in a cubicle alone reading this book
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Derek Parfit was a British Professor of Philosophy at Oxford University specializing in personal identity, rationality, ethics, and the relations between them.