The second task is a description and evaluation of parfits replacement for identity, relation r. Parfit what we could rationally will 289 6 though kant does not explicitly make this claim, he treats his remark about lying promises as presenting what he calls the principle of other human beings g, p. Future people suppose we discover how we could live for a thousand years, but in a way that made us unable to have children. This article examines derek parfits claim in reasons and persons that personal identity consists in nonbranching psychological continuity with the. I ie could either move to a city where the second child could receive special treatment, or move to a suburb where the first child would flourish. Derek parfit 1 proposes that we separate the notions of identity and survival. The information is sent by radio to mars, where another machine makes, out of organic materials, a perfect copy of. Derek parfits concept of personal identity and its. If these theories are revised, these objections can be partly met.
A is the most straightforward statement of that principle. Many of his peers considered him the most important moral philosopher of the 20th and early. Personal identity and applied ethics andrea sauchelli. Derek parfit, philosopher who explored identity and moral. It focuses on ethics, rationality and personal identity. Among the selfregarding concerns for which personal identity seems. I really need some help on this one, what is a small summary of the article that makes sense. What we believe ourselves to be 199 75 simple teletransportation and the branchline case 200 76 qualitative and numencal identity 20 1. And reids objection in particular anticipates derek parfits extreme. We have seen that the body, soul, and psychological continuity theories of personal identity over time each have their difficulties. Parfit on theories of personal identity phil 20208. Why our identity is not what matters oxford scholarship.
This article on parfits criticism of the self and personal identity is intended to make a small contribution to that goal. Bernard williams personal identity lrb 7 june 1984. Derek parfit, 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. Personal identity university of san diego home pages. In his work on personal identity, derek parfit makes two revolutionary claims. Derek parfit i cannot see how to disprove this first belief. His views on personal identity transformed how it is understood and used in philosophy, especially ethics. The unimportance of identity derek parfit we can start with some science fiction. The two pieces of brain are then housed in two different bodies. This article examines issues surrounding the importance or unimportance of personal identity. First, i argue that it is not entirely clear that parfits description eliminates the necessity of personal identity. This paper reevaluates derek parfits attack on the commonly held view that personal identity is necessarily determinate and that it is what matters. Free pdf reasons and persons download pdf search engine.
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 parfits concept of personal identity and its implications on rationality and morality ulla schmid leipzig, october 2005 contents i. What we could rationally will tanner lectures on human. Derek parfit was a british philosopher who specialised in personal identity, rationality, and ethics. This article examines derek parfits claim in reasons and persons that personal identity consists in nonbranching psychological continuity with the right kind of cause. Derek antony parfit fba was a british philosopher who specialised in personal identity.
This is a classical article in the 20th century analytical thought in philosophy. Whether a future person will be me must depend only on our intrinsic properties. It describes the results of some thought experiments science fiction cases to show that. But in other ways his neglect of the firstpersonal view, in the theory of personal identity as in his earlier discussion of ones. If parfit had discussed that particular point, it would not necessarily have harmed his case, and it might even have helped to reconcile us to it.
Parfit will show us why he think that this might turn out to be false, but in my view it could never exist anybody that i might call someone else. In his essay, derek parfit explains a scenario where a brain is divided into two pieces. This article examines derek parfit s claim in reasons and persons that personal identity consists in non. An individual user may print out a pdf of a single chapter of a monograph in oso for personal use. Pdf commentary about derek parfits book reasons and. I examine the critical notion of quasi psychology and attack it on two grounds. It argues that such psychological accounts of our identity fail, but that their main rivals, biological or animalist accounts do not fare better. Mostly an ethicist, but also dabbles in metaphysics. Commentary about derek parfits book reasons and persons part three personal identity. In his 1971 paper personal identity, derek parfit posits that it is possible and indeed desirable to free important questions from presuppositions about personal identity without losing all that matters. Par t is a partisan of the psychological criterion of personal identity psych. Parfits work divided into two related set of concerns. Does anyone know the general meaning of derek parfits personal identity from reasons and persons. Rationality and reasons derek parfit when ingmar and i discuss metaphysics or morality, our views are seldom far apart.
Part one discusses some ways in which theories about morality and rationality can be self. In the first part we first argue against the humean view of personal identity. Comparison between the view of derek parfit and a new theory of personal identity called open individualism by daniel kolak, with my personal proposals on the matter. In working out how to do so, parfit comes to the conclusion that the question about. Download reasons and persons pdf ebook reasons and persons reasons and persons ebook author by robert e. These cases are not covered by the criteria of personal identity that we actually use. It is an ideal text for courses on personal identity that consider both western and nonwestern approaches and that apply theories of personal identity to ethical problems. Derek parfit, a british philosopher whose writing on personal identity, the nature of reasons and the objectivity of morality reestablished ethics as. Personal identityl w e 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.
Personal identity by derek parfit 1907 words bartleby. Derek parfit future people, the nonidentity problem, and personaffecting principles i. Reasons and persons is a philosophical work by derek parfit, first published in 1984. Personal identity does not matter for survival, memory, or moral responsibility. Parfit argues that no view of personal identity can meet the following two requirements p. Chapter summaries, a glossary of key terms, and suggestions for further reading make this a refreshing, approachable introduction to personal identity and applied ethics. Jessie and norman par t and my sisters theodora and joanna. Analyze derek parfits personal identity essay example. It makes people assume that the principle of selfinterest is. It distinguishes numerical identity from qualitative identity. Derek parfit personal identity and rationality there are two main views about the nature of personal identity. Such theories give us certain aims, but also tell us to act in ways that frustrate these aims. Derek parfits arguments in the substance dualist perspective.
This information is sent by radio to mars, where another machine makes, out of organic materials, a perfect copy of. Professor john campbell gives a series of introductory lectures on the philosophy of mind at berkeley. Commentary about derek parfits book reasons and persons. Personal identity and ethics stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Part two discusses the relations between what a single person can rationally want or do.
It argues in defence of constitutional reductionism which holds that a person is reducible to but not identical to bodily and psychological events. Since i went deeper and deeper into thinking about this, i found myself steering away from scientificphilosophical terms into more poetic, spiritual terms, to the extent of even prefering to think of my true self as god, partly due to more metaphorical and poetical beauty, but also because it seems to me that what is normally conceptualized as god in all religions is an attempt to describe. Derek parfit was among the first contemporary theorists to explore the relation between identity and ethics explicitly, first in his seminal early 1970s articles, personal identity and especially later selves and moral principles, and then in his restatement and development of the view in part iii of his 1984 book reasons and. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential moral philosophers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. This essay will analyze derek parfits personal identity. When i press some button, a machine destroys my body, while recording the exact states of all my cells. Firstly, parfit was concerned with the perplexing question of the self and personal identity. Derek parfit s concept of personal identity and its implications on rationality and morality ulla schmid leipzig, october 2005 contents i. A hybrid solution perhaps we should combine the psychological view with one of the. This first beliefin the special nature of personal identityhas. This article examines derek parfits claim in reasons and persons that personal identity consists in non. We are not human beings1 derek parfit 1 we can start with some science fiction. Pdf derek parfit reasons and persons juliana chumak.
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