Derek parfit s concept of personal identity and its implications on rationality and morality ulla schmid leipzig, october 2005 contents i. The whole philosophy community is mourning derek parfit. The belief that, unless questions about identity have an answer, we cannot answer certain important questions about matters such as survival, memory and responsibility. That commonsense morality is selfdefeating and should be revised or rejected, for example. Parfit thinks that if there is such a thing as personal identity, and if it does have great importance, then some view must be able to meet both of 1 and 2. Derek parfit 1 proposes that we separate the notions of identity and survival. This book challenges, with several powerful arguments, some of our deepest beliefs about rationality, morality, and personal identity. By derek parfit this spring derek parfit is visiting profssor of philosophy at harvard university, where he is teaching recent ethical theory with t. About the author derek parfit is a research fellow at all souls college.
An introduction and critical inquiry is an outstanding introduction to and assessment of parfit s book, with chapters by leading scholars of ethics. And any future experience will either be my experience or it wont. Derek parfit oxford university abstract this article has no associated abstract. David lewis, derek parfit, personal identity, tense identity.
In reasons and persons, derek parfit argues for a reductionist view of personal identity. Locke does not give us an account of personal identity, but rather an account of how a person can survive as another person or persons. I shall briefly describe these views, say without argument which i believe to be true, and then discuss the implications of this view for one of the main conceptions of rationality. Derek parfit s reasons and persons, first published in 1984, is full of fascinating thought experiments and novel argumentsand outrageous claims. All parfits arguments in part three of reasons and persons tend to the conclusion that 3. Profssor parfit is a fellow of all souls college, oxford he is the author of reasons and persons, and has written extensively on ethics and personal identity. Reasons and persons download ebook pdf, epub, tuebl, mobi. Derek parfit reasons and persons pdf lihit lab teffa pen case book style black, reasons and persons by derek par. It doesnt matter that the original derek parfit ceased to exist, because being the same person that is, personal identity is not what matters. No one thinks this about, say, nations or machines.
The nonidentity problem derek parfit eagx 2016 oxford. Apr 16, 2017 derek parfit on personal identity duration. Nov 02, 2006 since personal identity is of great importance, whether a future person is me cannot depend on a trivial fact. We usually start these interviews by asking our interviewees samething about what turned their interests towards philoso phy. Parfit and the bundle theory claim that there is no person involved different awareness of events occurring at the same time, not different egos true for both splitbrain patients and people with normal brains. They would agree, for instance, that the survival of a nation just consists in various kinds of continuities. Personal identity, in metaphysics, the problem of the nature of the identity of persons and their persistence through time. This article examines derek parfit s claim in reasons and persons that personal identity consists in nonbranching psychological continuity with the right kind of cause.
Derek parfit proposes a theory of the ontological status of persons, which promises to answer the problem of fission and the paradox of personal identity. In his recent work, parfit returns to the examination of the nonidentity problem, but this time not in the context of a theory of value but as part of a scanlonian theory of reasons for action. Parfit, who was associated with all souls college at oxford for his entire career, rose to preeminence with the publication of his first paper, personal identity, in 1971. This means that for parfit personal identity is only the collection the particular timeslices of ones stream of consciousness. Parfit and the bundle theory claim that there is no person involved different awareness of events occurring at the same time, not different egos true for both splitbrain patients and. But he was among the most brilliant, and his papers and books have had a profound, incalculably. Derek parfit, philosopher who explored identity and moral. Our criteria for the identity of these do not cover certain cases. Derek parfit, personal identity what is the most neutral way to describe what happens in parfits case of fission.
The article exposes the quintessence of parfit s position in one of the most crucial problems of metaphysics, namely, the problem of personal identity and challenges the commonsense view on this topic. There are two main views about the nature of personal identity. Since personal identity is of great importance, whether a future person is me cannot depend on a trivial fact. This follows, he thinks, from the results of certain thought experimentssuch as one put forth by david wigginswhich seem to suggest that it is possible for a to survive into the future even if nobody will be identical to a at that time. Parfits is, in many respects, a lockean account of personal identity. Proceedings of the 1967 oberlin colloquium in philosophy, ed. May 22, 2018 24 derek parfit personal identity part 2 duration. The first is that in these cases the question about identity must have an answer. The article exposes the quintessence of parfits position in one of the most crucial problems of metaphysics, namely, the problem of personal identity and challenges the commonsense view on this topic. Many of his peers considered him the most important moral philosopher of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Derek in his theory argues that it is not easy to attach meaning to life at a personal level. One makes a judgment of personal identity whenever one says that a person existing at one time is the same as a person existing at another time. Profssor parfit is a fellow of all souls college, oxford he is the author of reasons and persons, and has. Derek parfits reasons and persons, first published in 1984, is full of fascinating thought experiments and novel argumentsand outrageous claims.
Nov 30, 2011 derek parfit 1 proposes that we separate the notions of identity and survival. Jan 03, 2017 derek parfit, who died at age 74 on sunday evening, was not the most famous philosopher in the world. This article examines derek parfits claim in reasons and persons that personal identity consists in. Life is not about personal identity but psychological connectedness and relation. These continuities are, in part, matters of degree. He says that identity is not found in a person as an individual but in their components. Split brains and personai cfiapte 11 brains spm and personal identity derek.
Pdf derek parfit reasons and persons juliana chumak. Derek parfits concept of personal identity and its. Mostly an ethicist, but also dabbles in metaphysics. Oxford university press is a department of the university of oxford. The next step is to suppose that browns brain is not simply transplanted whole into someone elses brainless head, but is divided in two and half put into each of two other peoples brainless heads. The belief that questions about identity must have a true answer. Derek, can we begin with the belief that you claim most of us have about personal identity.
This first beliefin the special nature of personal identityhas. Many of his peers considered him the most important moral. Personal identity internet encyclopedia of philosophy. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential moral philosophers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Personal identity and ethics stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. John perry, a dialogue on personal identity and immortality bernard williams, the self and the future derek parfit, personal identity.
Personal identity and rationality 307 102 the extreme claim 3cn 103 a better argument against the selfinterest theory 312. Reasons and persons kindle edition by parfit, derek. Oxford unwersity pbess great clarendon street, oxford 0x2 6dp. He analyses this relationship partly in terms of what he calls q memory o stands for quasi. Parfit, the reductionist view, and moral commitment abstract. The author claims that we have a false view of our own nature. Derek parfit personal identity and rationality there are two main views about the nature of personal identity.
Analyze derek parfits personal identity argument, a. In their debate about personal identity, derek parfit 1971 thinks that our common. The second part of the paper discusses parfits objections against the cartesian view. Par t is a partisan of the psychological criterion of personal identity psych. And reids objection in particular anticipates derek parfits extreme claim, to be discussed later.
Analyze derek parfits personal identity argument, and make your philosophical argument to support or criticize the argument. Parfits solution to the dilemma of the double transplant is. In identity and spatiotemporal continuity oxford, 1967, p. In other words, personal identity is an all or nothing. It makes people assume that the principle of selfinterest is. View 2 derek parfit split brains and personal identity. This is a classical article in the 20th century analytical thought in philosophy. Derek parfits reductionist account of personal identity including the rejection of anything like a soul is coupled with the rejection of a commonsensical intuition of essential selfunity, as in his defense of the counterintuitive claim that identity does not matter. We include here a partial list of the tributes to derek that have appeared in the days since his death. An interview with derek parfit derek parfit is a fellow of all souls college, oxford, and author of the controversial and widely acclaimed book reasons and persons. Derek parfit, born december 11, 1942, chengdu, chinadied january 1, 2017, london, england, english philosopher whose work in normative ethics and metaethics, personal identity, and the theory of practical reason was widely influential in the englishspeaking world from the 1980s. According to a reductionist, persons are nothing over and above the existence of certain mental andor physical states and their various relations. Reasons and persons is arguably the most influential of the two books published in his lifetime and hailed as a classic work of ethics and personal identity. David lewis, robert nozick, derek parfit and sydney shoemaker.
Reasons and persons is a 1984 book by the philosopher derek parfit, in which the author discusses ethics, rationality and personal identity it is divided into four parts, dedicated to selfdefeating theories, rationality and time, personal identity and responsibility toward future generations. Derek parfit personal identity derek parfit o senior research fellow at all souls college, oxford, and a visiting prof at nyu, harvard, rutgers o wrote some books re. Derek parfit discussing personal identity in the documentary brainspotting duration. Now, as a reductive pluralist, parfit argues that we have no grounds for speaking about personal identity as such and that there is no unified self hold everything together. Personal identity readings page 3447 personal identity derek parfit 1 we can, i think, describe cases in which, though we know the answer to every other question, we have no idea how to answer a question about personal identity.
Analyze derek parfit s personal identity argument, and make your philosophical argument to support or criticize the argument. What we believe ourselves to be 199 75 simple teletransportation and the branchline case 200 76 qualitative and numencal identity 20 1. Derek parfit 19422017 is widely considered to be one of the most important moral philosophers of the twentieth century. Personal identity by derek parfit 1907 words bartleby. Personal identity does not matter for survival, memory, or moral responsibility.
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