Parfit's Ethics

Makes Parfit's oeuvre accessible, explaining his work clearly. Explores philosophical puzzles concerning ethics, rationality, and identity.

Richard Yetter Chappell (Author)

9781108730532, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 13 May 2021

75 pages
22.8 x 15 x 0.5 cm, 0.11 kg

Derek Parfit (1942–2017) was one of the most important and influential moral philosophers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. This Element offers a critical introduction to his wide-ranging ethical thought, focusing especially on his two most significant works, Reasons and Persons (1984) and On What Matters (2011), and their contribution to the consequentialist moral tradition. Topics covered include: rationality and objectivity, distributive justice, self-defeating moral theories, Parfit's Triple Theory (according to which consequentialism, contractualism, and Kantian ethics ultimately converge), personal identity, and population ethics.

1. Introduction
2. Rationality and Objectivity
3. Distributive Justice
4. Character and Consequence
5. The Triple Theory
6. Personal Identity
7. Population Ethics
8. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Social & political philosophy [HPS], Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ]