Parfit’s Reasons and Persons

Graduate / Professional

Derek Parfit’s contemporary classic Reasons and Persons , published some forty years ago, is a brilliant and influential exploration of fundamental questions concerning the nature of morality, rationality and personal identity. Divided into four parts, the book first examines the implications of a moral theory’s being self-defeating; the second compares rival views with regard to rationality and time; the third famously argues for a reductionist account of personal identity; the last introduces the puzzling field of population ethics, which treats our obligations to future generations. Written in an accessible and nontechnical style, the book is filled with original and thought-provoking arguments. The seminar is devoted to reading Reasons and Persons in its entirety and evaluating its many challenging and surprising conclusions. Prerequisite: a previous class in philosophy. T 1:30pm-3:25pm