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Philosophy Enthusiasts' Guide

Derek Parfit was a British philosopher who specialized in personal identity, rationality, and ethics. He is widely considered one of the most important moral philosophers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Parfit rose to prominence in 1971 with his first paper 'Personal Identity' and his 1984 book Reasons and Persons has been described as the most significant work of moral philosophy since the 1800s.

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52 views3 pages

Philosophy Enthusiasts' Guide

Derek Parfit was a British philosopher who specialized in personal identity, rationality, and ethics. He is widely considered one of the most important moral philosophers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Parfit rose to prominence in 1971 with his first paper 'Personal Identity' and his 1984 book Reasons and Persons has been described as the most significant work of moral philosophy since the 1800s.

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Derek Parfit

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Derek Parfit

FBA
Parfit at Harvard University in April 2015

Born 11 December 1942

Chengdu, China

Died 2 January 2017 (aged 74)

London, England, UK

Education Balliol College, Oxford (BA)

Columbia University

Harvard University

Janet Radcliffe Richards


Spouse

(m. 2010)

Awards Rolf Schock Prize in Logic and Philosophy (2014)

Era Contemporary philosophy

Region Western philosophy

School Analytic philosophy


Institutions University of Oxford

Main interests • Ethics

• Personal identity

• Rationalism

• Consequentialism

• Philosophy of mind

Notable ideas • Relation R

• Repugnant conclusion

• Nonidentity problem

• Triple Theory

• Teletransportation paradox

• Self-defeating moral theories

Derek Antony Parfit FBA (/ˈpɑːrfɪt/; 11 December 1942 – 2[3][4] January 2017) was a British
philosopher who specialised in personal identity, rationality, and ethics. He is widely
considered one of the most important and influential moral philosophers of the late 20th
and early 21st centuries.[5][6][7]
Parfit rose to prominence in 1971 with the publication of his first paper, "Personal Identity".
His first book, Reasons and Persons (1984), has been described as the most significant
work of moral philosophy since the 1800s.[6][7] His second book, On What Matters (2011),
was widely circulated and discussed for many years before its publication.
For his entire academic career, Parfit worked at Oxford University, where he was an
Emeritus Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College at the time of his death. He was
also a visiting professor of philosophy at Harvard University, New York University,
and Rutgers University. He was awarded the 2014 Rolf Schock Prize "for his
groundbreaking contributions concerning personal identity, regard for future generations,
and analysis of the structure of moral theories."[8]

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