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On What Matters is a major work in moral philosophy. It is the long-awaited follow-up to Derek Parfit's 1984 book Reasons and Persons, one of the landmarks of twentieth-century philosophy. In this first volume Parfit presents a powerful new treatment of reasons and rationality, and a critical examination of three systematic moral theories - Kant's ethics, contractualism, and consequentialism - leading to his own ground-breaking synthetic
conclusion. Along the way he discusses a wide range of moral issues, such as the significance of consent, treating people as a means rather than an end, and free will and responsibility. On What Matters is already the most-discussed work in moral philosophy: its publication is likely to establish it as a modern classic which
everyone working on moral philosophy will have to read, and which many others will turn to for stimulation and illumination.
List of contents
- Introduction
- Preface
- Summary
- PART ONE: REASONS
- NORMATIVE CONCEPTS
- OBJECTIVE THEORIES
- SUBJECTIVE THEORIES
- FURTHER ARGUMENTS
- RATIONALITY
- MORALITY
- MORAL CONCEPTS
- PART TWO: PRINCIPLES
- POSSIBLE CONSENT
- MERELY AS A MEANS
- RESPECT AND VALUE
- FREE WILL AND DESERT
- PART THREE: THEORIES
- UNIVERSAL LAWS
- WHAT IF EVERYONE DID THAT?
- IMPARTIALITY
- CONTRACTUALISM
- CONSEQUENTIALISM
- CONCLUSIONS
- Appendices
- Notes to Volume One
- References
- Bibliography
- Index
About the author
Derek Parfit is one of the leading philosophers of our time. He is a Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford, Global Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at New York University, and a Fellow of the British Academy and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the author of Reasons and Persons (OUP, 1984), one of the most influential books in philosophy of the last several decades.
Summary
On What Matters is a major work in moral philosophy. It is the long-awaited follow-up to Derek Parfit's 1984 book Reasons and Persons, one of the landmarks of twentieth-century philosophy. In this first volume Parfit presents a powerful new treatment of reasons and rationality, and a critical examination of three systematic moral theories -- Kant's ethics, contractualism, and consequentialism -- leading to his own ground-breaking synthetic conclusion. Along the way he discusses a wide range of moral issues, such as the significance of consent, treating people as a means rather than an end, and free will and responsibility. On What Matters is already the most-discussed work in moral philosophy: its publication is likely to establish it as a modern classic which everyone working on moral philosophy will have to read, and which many others will turn to for stimulation and illumination.
Additional text
Parfit's intricate and beautifully lucid book is undoubtedly the work of a philosophical genius.
Report
Review from previous edition an epochal work ... Parfit's intellectual personality radiates throughout On What Matters, which as a whole presents a gripping and illuminating picture of a single, comprehensive view of the projects of both normative and metaethical inquiry. Mark Schroeder, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
