I’m very sorry to inform you that I have some bad news. Well, maybe not bad per se, but I think you might find it a little disturbing. You might want to make sure you’re sitting down for this. Ready? Okay, here goes: You might not exist. I know, I know. It’s okay. I understand that it’s difficult to accept. But the sooner you make peace with it, the better. You’ll see. With Continue Reading …
PREVIEW-Ep. 261: Derek Parfit on Personal Identity (Part Two)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode in its entirety. Citizens can get the second part here. Mark, Wes, Dylan, Seth cover more of the thought experiments and other arguments from Parfit's Reasons and Persons (1984), ch. 10-13. We consider more closely Bernard Williams' response to Parfit and how Parfit turns that argument back on itself. In defending physicalism Continue Reading …
Ep. 261: Derek Parfit on Personal Identity (Part One)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode, or listen to a preview. Citizens can get the entire second part here. On Reasons and Persons (1984), ch. 10-13, featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan and Seth. What makes a person the same over time? Parfit used Locke as a starting point: It's a matter of continuity of memory: I am the same person as my younger self because there are Continue Reading …
Ep. 261: Derek Parfit on Personal Identity (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing on Reasons and Persons (1984), ch. 10-13. Continuing from where we left off, we consider more closely Bernard Williams' response to Parfit and how Parfit turns that argument back on itself. In defending physicalism against Lockean memory conceptions of personal identity, Williams presented a situation in which you're about to undergo some torture. I tell you that Continue Reading …
Ep. 261: Derek Parfit on Personal Identity (Part One for Supporters)
On Reasons and Persons (1984), ch. 10-13, featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan and Seth. What makes a person the same over time? Parfit used Locke as a starting point: It's a matter of continuity of memory: I am the same person as my younger self because there are overlapping chains of memory. Even if I and earlier me don't share any specific memories (Locke's actual criterion), Continue Reading …
On What Matters–A Recommendation
[Editor's Note: Lawrence Ware is the guest on our episode on philosophy and race, and we're happy to have him come blog for us.] Derek Parfit is one of the most important ethicists of our time. I’m sure that his Reasons and Personswill soon challenge Kripke’s Naming and Necessityin the number of philosophy dissertations it has influenced. It appears that the best was yet Continue Reading …