Derek Parfit
Asks what really matters, and seeks to reconcile Kant, contract and consequences.
Life
British philosopher (1942-2017), fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. Reasons and Persons (1984) questions the idea that personal identity is what matters and raises famous problems about future generations. In On What Matters (2011) he seeks to reconcile Kant, contract theory and consequentialism.
Main works
On personal identity, rationality and our duties to future generations.
There are moral truths, and the major moral theories converge on them.
In his own words
« These people are climbing the same mountain on different sides. »
Positions
click a row to see the evidenceHis Triple Theory says the best Kantian, contractualist and rule-consequentialist principles coincide; he casts it as a form of Kantian rule-based morality.
Parfit, On What Matters (2011), vol. 1
He defends non-natural moral truths that hold independently of what anyone thinks, as we can grasp reasons for action.
Parfit, On What Matters (2011)
He holds that some things objectively matter, and that a good future for humanity is among them.
Parfit, On What Matters, vol. 3 (2017)