Part two discusses the relations between what a single person can rationally want or do. Dive deep into derek parfit s reasons and persons with extended analysis, commentary, and discussion. According to the reductionist persons are nothing over and above the. Nov 02, 2006 since personal identity is of great importance, whether a future person is me cannot depend on a trivial fact. Derek parfit, personal identity, and death reason and meaning. Derek antony parfit fba was a british philosopher who specialised in personal identity, rationality, and ethics. What parfit believes his revisionist theory of personal identity shows is that we have no. In reasons and persons derek parfit argues for a reductionist view of personal identity. This means that for parfit personal identity is only the collection the particular timeslices of ones stream of consciousness.
For more on the issue of the self and identity, check out. To help explain, the reader quotes the philosopher derek parfit. This article examines issues surrounding the importance or unimportance of personal identity. It describes the results of some thought experiments science fiction cases to show that. We have encountered, from reid and williams, a number of serious objections to this view. All parfits arguments in part three of reasons and persons tend to the conclusion that 3. Parfit, the reductionist view, and moral commitment. 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. Many of his peers considered him the most important moral philosopher of the 20th and early 21st centuries.
Derek parfits concept of personal identity and its implications on rationality and morality ulla schmid leipzig, october 2005 contents i. Fission cases are a problem for a lockean theory of personal identity. 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. Derek parfit 1 proposes that we separate the notions of identity and survival. Derek parfit, personal identity what is the most neutral way to describe what happens in parfits case of fission. It distinguishes numerical identity from qualitative identity. Jan 16, 2018 this is from a 1996 program called brainspotting. But in other ways his neglect of the firstpersonal view, in the theory of personal identity as in his earlier discussion of ones. My life seemed like a glass tunnel, through which i was moving faster every year, and at the end of which there was darkness.
May 22, 2018 24 derek parfit personal identity part 2 duration. Jan 04, 2017 derek parfit, a british philosopher whose writing on personal identity, the nature of reasons and the objectivity of morality reestablished ethics as a central concern for contemporary thinkers. John perry, a dialogue on personal identity and immortality bernard williams, the self and the future derek parfit, personal identity. 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. Though i certainly have different memories and intentions at the age of 35 as i did at the age of 15, at each time point that led up to the present, there was overlap and. In a fission scenario, both jay and bob have the same quality of autobiographical memory. The belief that questions about identity must have a true answer. Among the selfregarding concerns for which personal identity seems. Personal identity and ethics stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Parfit on theories of personal identity university of notre. Pdf this article examines derek parfits claim in reasons and persons that personal identity consists in nonbranching psychological.
What does being the person that you are, from one day to the next, necessarily consist in. Parfit argues that no view of personal identity can meet the following two requirements p. Derek parfit s concept of personal identity and its implications on rationality and morality ulla schmid leipzig, october 2005 contents i. And reids objection in particular anticipates derek parfits extreme. Moral action should aim to benefit the aggregate of people rather than specific people. Commentary about derek parfits book reasons and persons. Parfit provides responses to a number of these objections in trying to find the most plausible version of the psychological criterion. Derek in his theory argues that it is not easy to attach meaning to life at a personal level. When i changed my view, the walls of my glass tunnel disappeared. Personal identity by derek parfit 1907 words bartleby.
Parfits family quickly moved back to oxford where he was to live for most of his life. In 2014, he won the most prestigious rolf schock prize, often considered as philosophys equivalent of the nobel prize, for his groundbreaking contribution concerning personal identity, regard for future. Personal identity notes notes and revision materials. Personal identity, by john locke, derek parfit and bernard. If these theories are revised, these objections can be partly met. Derek parfit1 proposes that we separate the notions of identity and survival.
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. Further, i will discuss bernard williams rebuttal against parfit s view that psychological continuity is a criterion of identity. We also stock notes on epistemology and metaphysics as well as philosophy notes generally. Parfit 186, which is what personal identity looks into. Many of his peers considered him the most important moral. This follows, he thinks, from the results of certain thought. 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.
Dive deep into derek parfits reasons and persons with extended analysis, commentary, and discussion. According to lockes theory of personal identity, jay and bob are both identical to brian. Derek parfit proposes a theory of the ontological status of persons, which. 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. Oct 24, 2006 in most of our discussion of personal identity so far, we have been focusing on various versions of the psychological view. Part one discusses some ways in which theories about morality and rationality can be self.
Such theories give us certain aims, but also tell us to act in ways that frustrate these aims. This essay will discuss whether personal identity is a matter of physical or psychological continuity, taking into account the famous ideas of philosophers such as john locke, derek parfit and bernard williams. Derek parfit, philosopher who explored identity and moral. Reasons and persons challenges, with several powerful arguments, some of our deepest beliefs about rationality, morality, and personal identity. Proceedings of the 1967 oberlin colloquium in philosophy, ed. Personal identity stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. The belief that, unless questions about identity have an answer, we cannot answer certain important questions about matters such as survival, memory and responsibility. Head transplants, personal identity, and derek parfit.
According to a reductionist, persons are nothing over and above the existence of certain mental andor physical states and their various relations. 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. Identitys theory of personal identity 1500 words cram. Personal identity deals with philosophical questions that arise about. What matters, really, is connectedness of memories, desires, intentions, etc. 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. In identity and spatiotemporal continuity oxford, 1967, p. Nov 30, 2011 derek parfit 1 proposes that we separate the notions of identity and survival. Any future experience will either be my experience, or it will not. Parfit in response to lockes theory of personal identity. Derek parfit proposes a theory of the ontological status of persons, which promises to. In 2014, he won the most prestigious rolf schock prize, often considered as philosophys equivalent of the nobel prize, for his groundbreaking contribution concerning personal identity, regard for future generations and analysis of the structure of moral theories.
The whole philosophy community is mourning derek parfit. The first section of chapter 10 considers the case of simple teletransportation, that parfit thinks might preserve personal identity, and the case of producing a replica without. 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. It doesnt matter that the original derek parfit ceased to exist, because being the same person that is, personal identity is not what matters. But in other ways his neglect of the firstpersonal view, in the theory of personal identity as in his earlier discussion of ones need to induce certain dispositions in oneself, leaves a gap. Derek parfit discussing personal identity in the documentary brainspotting duration. Derek parfit personal identity and rationality there are two main views about the nature of personal identity. Life is not about personal identity but psychological connectedness and relation. Bernard williams personal identity lrb 7 june 1984. Parfit, the reductionist view, and moral commitment abstract. 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. Parfit was born in chengdu, western china, on december 11, 1942. By the law of transitivity if ab and bc, then ac, jay and bob are identical. When i believed that personal identity is what matters, i seemed imprisoned in myself.
Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Parfit favors a psychological continuity criterion for personal identity. Derek parfit was a british philosopher who specialised in personal identity, rationality, and ethics. He was the son of jessie and norman parfit, british doctors sent to teach preventative medicine in missionary hospitals. The part of the book of parfit discussing on personal identity starts at chapter 10 and ends at chapter 15. The book is entitled reasons and persons because parfit holds that in various ways our reasons for acting should become more impersonal. Personal identity and ethics stanford encyclopedia of.
It argues in defence of constitutional reductionism which holds that a person is reducible to but not identical to bodily and psychological events. Reasons and persons kindle edition by parfit, derek. Derek parfits concept of personal identity and its. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential moral philosophers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Derek parfit, personal identity what is the most neutral way to describe what happens in parfit s case of fission. Finally, i will address the unresolved issue of the importance of personal identity surrounding the debate over the acceptance or rejection of parfit s view of personal identity. Derek parfit was a british professor of philosophy at oxford university specializing in personal identity, rationality, ethics, and the relations between them. Parfits solution to the dilemma of the double transplant is. Personal identity internet encyclopedia of philosophy. Derek parfit, personal identity, and death reason and. He says that identity is not found in a person as an individual but in their components.
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