Derek Parfit
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McMahan, Jeff (2017) Derek Parfit (1942-2017), Philosophy Now, April.
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Mulgan, Tim (2013) Derek Parfit, in James E. Crimmins (ed.) The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Utilitarianism, London: Bloomsbury Academic, p. 404.
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Baier, Annette C. (1984) Review of Derek Parfit, Reasons and Persons, Philosophical Books, vol. 25, p. 220.
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Chappell, Richard Yetter (2020) Parfit’s Ethics (manuscript), Philosophy, et
Ceteracetera, August 4. - ^
Parfit, Derek (2015) Full address, Oxford Union, October 10, 1:02.
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Beard, Simon (2020) Parfit bio, Simon Beard's Website.
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McMahan, Jeff (2017) Derek Parfit (1942-2017), Philosophy Now, April.
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Mulgan, Tim (2013) Derek Parfit, in James E. Crimmins (ed.) The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Utilitarianism, London: Bloomsbury Academic, p. 404.
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Baier, Annette C. (1984) Review of Derek Parfit, Reasons and Persons, Philosophical Books, vol. 25, p. 220.
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Chappell, Richard Yetter
(2021)(2020) Parfit’s Ethics (manuscript),Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Philosophy, et Cetera, August 4. - ^
Parfit, Derek (2015) Full address, Oxford Union, October 10, 1:02.
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Beard, Simon (2020) Parfit bio, Simon Beard's Website.
Towards the end of his life, Parfit became increasingly interested in effective altruism and supportive of it. In one of his last talks—an event at the Oxford Union organized by Giving What We Can—Can—he remarked:[5]
Derek Antony Parfit (11 December 1942 – 1 January 2017) was a British philosopher. He wasis the author of Reasons and Persons and On What Matters.
In an obituary, Jeff McMahan referred to Parfit as "one of the most important philosophers of the past half half-century and, in the view of many, the single best moral philosopher in more than a century." (McMahan 2017)[1] Reasons and Persons is "widely regarded as the most important work in utilitarian moral philosophy in the twentieth century" (Mulgan 2013: 404),century,"[2] and has been described as "perhaps the most argument-filled book ever to have been written" (Baier 1984: 220)[3] and as "contain[ing] the highest ratio of important insights per page of any philosophical work." (Chappell 2021)
Parfit's students include Jeff[4]McMahan and Toby Ord.
Everyone agrees that (3) is worse than (2), and that (2) is worse than (1). But Parfit notesargues that, although most people believe the difference between (1) and (2) to be greater than the difference between (2) and (3), the reverse is in fact the case. Although many more additional people will die in (2) relative to (1), than in (3) relative to (2), only (3) involves the death of everyone alive, and hence of the species as a whole. (2) kills almost everyone in the present generation, but (3) prevents all future generations from ever being born. Since the vast majority of potential people do not yet exist, according to Parfit (3) represents a far greater loss than (2). Appreciation of this critical insight has motivated many effective altruists to focus on reducing the risk of human extinction, as well asand of existential risk more generally.
InTowards the end of his later years,life, Parfit became increasingly interested in effective altruism and supportive of it. In one of his last talks—an event at the Oxford Union organized by Giving What We Can—he remarked:[5]
I am immensely heartened by the way in which, here at Oxford and some other places—Harvard, Rutgers, elsewhere—, various groups have been started whose aim is to relieve the great suffering and early deaths of some of the world’s 2 billion poorest people. I really admire this, and applaud you for doing it. It is the greatest moral problem, I think, that we rich people are likely to face in our lives, and most likely to act in ways that are seriously wrong.
In the final pages of the third volume of On What Matters, Parfit expressed the intention of writing a final volume applying his views on metaethics and normative ethics to practical issues, including global poverty and existential risk. Although Parfit died before the book could be written, he arguably inspired others to carry out that project in some form. As Simon Beard, a postdoctoral researcherSenior...
Temkin, Larry & Jimmy Goodrich (2021)(2019) Derek Parfit, in Hugh LaFollette (ed.) International Encyclopedia of Ethics, Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell.
McMahan, Jeff et al. (eds.) (2022) Ethics and Existence: The Legacy of Derek Parfit, Oxford: Oxford University Press.