Hermitix The Philosophy of Derek Parfit with David Edmonds
Sep 6, 2023
David Edmonds, British philosopher and radio feature maker at the BBC World Service, discusses the controversial legacy of philosopher Derek Parfit. Topics include Parfit's influence on obligations to future people, his unusual relationship with his body, the consequences of taking action on climate change, the Non-identity Problem and moral dilemmas, introduction to Parfit's work, and a famous thought experiment in moral philosophy.
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Founder Of Future-People Ethics
- Parfit created the philosophical subfield about obligations to future people and the puzzles it raises.
- That work seeded a flourishing literature on how our actions affect people not yet born.
Mistaken Notes Mistaken For Article
- Edmonds once sent Parfit raw notes and Parfit literally assumed they were the published article.
- That literalness exemplified Parfit's peculiar sincerity and seriousness about texts.
Morality Requires Objective Grounding
- Derek Parfit spent the last two decades of his life arguing morality must be objective to save meaning in life.
- He believed secular philosophy could reconstruct ethics after abandoning religion early on.