Reasons and Persons

Reasons and Persons is unquestionably one of the most important philosophical works of the 20th century, although its conspicuous absence from bookstore shelves might suggest otherwise. But for those planning to read Parfit's masterwork of moral philosophy, I would like to offer two words of warning......more

Derek Parfit's Reasons and Persons is considered a must read in contemporary ethics. The problem is that it is basically only accessible for those who are already experienced with ethics, and particularly the dense work of many of his predecessors, particularly Henry Sidgwick, to whom Parfit is ofte......more

I would like to offer a somewhat iconoclastic reading of Reasons and Persons: I think Part I of Reasons and Persons is underrated, and contains many of the most useful ideas. E.g., it's basically the best reading I know of if you want to get a deep and principled understanding for why 'naive conseque......more

My deep love of this book is counterintuitive; I generally prefer a very different intellectual style to my reflections on the nature of personal identity. Also, I generally tend to get annoyed with excessive use of wildly implausible hypotheticals, which this book uses in droves. Nevertheless, this......more

It's genuinely difficult to put into words how paradigm-shifting this book is in the fields of moral philosophy and rationality, and likewise now with respect to the confidence I can espouse in regards to a few of my own beliefs, particularly surrounding rationality and the proper way of understandi......more