Parfit

Parfit PDF Author: David Edmonds
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691225257
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
From the bestselling coauthor of Wittgenstein’s Poker, an entertaining and illuminating biography of a brilliant philosopher who tried to rescue morality from nihilism Derek Parfit (1942–2017) is the most famous philosopher most people have never heard of. Widely regarded as one of the greatest moral thinkers of the past hundred years, Parfit was anything but a public intellectual. Yet his ideas have shaped the way philosophers think about things that affect us all: equality, altruism, what we owe to future generations, and even what it means to be a person. In Parfit, David Edmonds presents the first biography of an intriguing, obsessive, and eccentric genius. Believing that we should be less concerned with ourselves and more with the common good, Parfit dedicated himself to the pursuit of philosophical progress to an extraordinary degree. He always wore gray trousers and a white shirt so as not to lose precious time picking out clothes, he varied his diet as little as possible, and he had only one serious non-philosophical interest: taking photos of Oxford, Venice, and St. Petersburg. In the latter half of his life, he single-mindedly devoted himself to a desperate attempt to rescue secular morality—morality without God—by arguing that it has an objective, rational basis. For Parfit, the stakes could scarcely have been higher. If he couldn’t demonstrate that there are objective facts about right and wrong, he believed, his life was futile and all our lives were meaningless. Connecting Parfit’s work and life and offering a clear introduction to his profound and challenging ideas, Parfit is a powerful portrait of an extraordinary thinker who continues to have a remarkable influence on the world of ideas.

Parfit

Parfit PDF Author: David Edmonds
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691225257
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 408

Get Book

Book Description
From the bestselling coauthor of Wittgenstein’s Poker, an entertaining and illuminating biography of a brilliant philosopher who tried to rescue morality from nihilism Derek Parfit (1942–2017) is the most famous philosopher most people have never heard of. Widely regarded as one of the greatest moral thinkers of the past hundred years, Parfit was anything but a public intellectual. Yet his ideas have shaped the way philosophers think about things that affect us all: equality, altruism, what we owe to future generations, and even what it means to be a person. In Parfit, David Edmonds presents the first biography of an intriguing, obsessive, and eccentric genius. Believing that we should be less concerned with ourselves and more with the common good, Parfit dedicated himself to the pursuit of philosophical progress to an extraordinary degree. He always wore gray trousers and a white shirt so as not to lose precious time picking out clothes, he varied his diet as little as possible, and he had only one serious non-philosophical interest: taking photos of Oxford, Venice, and St. Petersburg. In the latter half of his life, he single-mindedly devoted himself to a desperate attempt to rescue secular morality—morality without God—by arguing that it has an objective, rational basis. For Parfit, the stakes could scarcely have been higher. If he couldn’t demonstrate that there are objective facts about right and wrong, he believed, his life was futile and all our lives were meaningless. Connecting Parfit’s work and life and offering a clear introduction to his profound and challenging ideas, Parfit is a powerful portrait of an extraordinary thinker who continues to have a remarkable influence on the world of ideas.

Kant and Parfit

Kant and Parfit PDF Author: Husain Sarkar
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 042978743X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
Derek Parfit’s On What Matters is widely recognized as elegant, profound, and destined to change the landscape of moral philosophy. In Volume One, Parfit argues that the distinct—indeed, powerfully conflicting—theories of deontology and contractualism can be woven together in a way so as to yield utilitarian conclusions. Husain Sarkar in this book calls this, The Ultimate Derivation. Sarkar argues, however, that this derivation is untenable. To underwrite this conclusion, this book traverses considerable Parfitian terrain. Sarkar shows why Parfit hasn’t quite solved what Sidgwick had called "the profoundest problem in ethics"; he offers a reading of Kant, Rawls, and Scanlon that reveals Parfit’s keen utilitarian bias; and he demonstrates why Parfit’s Triple Theory does not succeed in its task of unifying conflicting moral theories (without making substantial utilitarian assumptions). The final chapter of the book is about meta-ethics. It shows that Parfit’s Convergence Principle is mistaken even though it unveils Parfit’s utterly humane concerns: Moral philosophers are not, as Parfit thinks, climbing the same mountain. But for all that, Sarkar maintains, Parfit’s book is arguably the greatest consequential tract in the history of moral philosophy.

Reading Parfit

Reading Parfit PDF Author: Simon Kirchin
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 135184718X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
Derek Parfit was one of the world’s leading philosophers. His On What Matters was the most eagerly awaited book in philosophy for many years. Reading Parfit: On What Matters is an essential overview and assessment of volumes 1 and 2 of Parfit’s monumental work by a team of international contributors, and includes responses by Parfit himself. It discusses central features of Parfit’s book, including the structure and nature of reasons; the ideas underlying moral principles; Parfit’s discussions of consequentialism, contractualism and Kantian deontology; and his metaethical ideas and arguments. Reading Parfit will be central reading for students of ethics and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of one of the most important works of philosophy published in the last fifty years.

Essays on Derek Parfit's On What Matters

Essays on Derek Parfit's On What Matters PDF Author: Jussi Suikkanen
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 9781444322897
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
In Essays on Derek Parfit's On What Matters, seven leadingmoral philosophers offer critical evaluations of the central ideaspresented in a greatly anticipated new work by world-renowned moralphilosopher Derek Parfit. Presents critical assessments of what promises to be one of thekey moral philosophy texts of our time Features essays by a team of leading philosophers includingPrinceton's Michael Smith, one of the world's leadingmeta-ethicists Addresses Parfit's central thesis - that the main ethicaltheories can agree on what matters - as well as his defense ofmoral realism

Englische studien

Englische studien PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : English philology
Languages : de
Pages : 518

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A Parfit Gentil Knight

A Parfit Gentil Knight PDF Author: Charlton Andrews
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 460

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The Pacific Reporter

The Pacific Reporter PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law reports, digests, etc
Languages : en
Pages : 1186

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Reports of Cases Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Washington

Reports of Cases Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Washington PDF Author: Washington (State). Supreme Court
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law reports, digests, etc
Languages : en
Pages : 920

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Book Description
Vol. 1 includes the decisions of the Supreme Court of the Territory of Washington for 1889.

REU Reports ...

REU Reports ... PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Physics
Languages : en
Pages : 444

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A Glossarial Concordance to William Langland's The Vision of Piers Plowman: pt. 1. A-L

A Glossarial Concordance to William Langland's The Vision of Piers Plowman: pt. 1. A-L PDF Author: Tomonori Matsushita
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : English language
Languages : en
Pages : 604

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Book Description
Concordance to the corrected 2nd edition (1997) edited by A.V.C. Schmidt and published by J.M. Dent.