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.
On What Matters:Volume One
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It is finally here... there is no doubt that On What Matters is an epochal work ... a remarkable achievement, giving us a truly comprehensive picture of the moral outlook ... of one of the greatest moral thinkers of our time... 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 [On What Matters] stands as a grand and dedicated attempt to elaborate a fundamentally misguided perspective. Its diligence and its honesty command respect. Perhaps these real virtues will set standards for a very different ventures in academic ethics. Naturalist or otherwise-for a return to the tradition of attempts to understand and improve everyday judgment, and to provide resources for people and policymakers everywhere. In the end, that is what matters. Philip Kitcher, The New Republic the most significant work in ethics since Sidgwick's masterpiece was published in 1873 ... a work of epic proportions and ambitions Peter Singer, Times Literary Supplement the most eagerly awaited book in philosophy since Ludwig Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations... Should the book become as influential as the stars guiding its arrival suggest, it could seriously alter the way that ethics is thought about and taught. Constantine Sandis, Times Higher Education represents many years of work by one of the most influential philosophers of our time Simon Blackburn, Financial Times an epochal work... a remarkable achievement, giving us a truly comprehensive picture of the moral outlook - both normative and metaethical - of one of the greatest moral thinkers of our time Mark Schroeder, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews Parfits arguments are of extraordinary brilliance and clarity, and by any standards On What Matters is an immensely powerful achievement... Parfits intricate and beautifully lucid book is undoubtedly the work of a philosophical genius. John Cottingham, The Tablet
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.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Ove
Format:Hardcover
In this ambitious book (this is a single book in two parts- get both) Parfit seeks an objective theory of ethics. Using his metaphor imagine three groups of philosophers climbing the ethical mountain seeking the holy grail of an objective ethical theory. The first group consists of Kantian rule consequentialists, the second group are Kantian deontologists, and third are the Kantian/Scanlonian contractualists. They climb towards the peak using different paths, but at the peak they all meet. They have all found the triple theory!
To make this work the views of Kant needs to be tweaked. Parfit take on Kant is that Kant was the greatest philosopher of ethics that ever had lived up until his time generating many novel ideas. However, some Kant's views are inconsistent. To make them work they need to be improved.
Metaethics.
Parfit methaethical view is that there are moral beliefs, some of which are objectively true. These beliefs are analogous to Plato's view on natural numbers. Their existence is not in the natural world.
In methaethical terms the author is in the non-naturalist cognitivism camp along with Sidgwick (Parfit's two `masters' are Kant and Sidgwick), G.E Moore, and Thomas Nagel. While being consilient with normative ethics, Parfit's metaethical stance is distinct. He spends a lot of time arguing against many other metaethical positions, such as non- cognitivism or natural views. He is worried that John Mackie and Bernard Williams, which he both knew, had other views. Parfit thinks that he would be able to change their minds.
Reasons and rationality
Parfit defends an objective theory of reasons. This is very similar to Scanlon's view. He spends a lot of effort arguing against subjective theories of reason.
There is a sense of urgency in this book. The author motivation of writing this book is that what matters most is to ensure that future generations can prosper and live healthy lives. Considering all current problems that we face, such as global warming, overpopulation, and poverty, etc., an objective theory of ethics would be crucial.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in ethics. It is broad in scope, rich in content, and written in a non-technical manner. This book could very well become a classic.
To make this work the views of Kant needs to be tweaked. Parfit take on Kant is that Kant was the greatest philosopher of ethics that ever had lived up until his time generating many novel ideas. However, some Kant's views are inconsistent. To make them work they need to be improved.
Metaethics.
Parfit methaethical view is that there are moral beliefs, some of which are objectively true. These beliefs are analogous to Plato's view on natural numbers. Their existence is not in the natural world.
In methaethical terms the author is in the non-naturalist cognitivism camp along with Sidgwick (Parfit's two `masters' are Kant and Sidgwick), G.E Moore, and Thomas Nagel. While being consilient with normative ethics, Parfit's metaethical stance is distinct. He spends a lot of time arguing against many other metaethical positions, such as non- cognitivism or natural views. He is worried that John Mackie and Bernard Williams, which he both knew, had other views. Parfit thinks that he would be able to change their minds.
Reasons and rationality
Parfit defends an objective theory of reasons. This is very similar to Scanlon's view. He spends a lot of effort arguing against subjective theories of reason.
There is a sense of urgency in this book. The author motivation of writing this book is that what matters most is to ensure that future generations can prosper and live healthy lives. Considering all current problems that we face, such as global warming, overpopulation, and poverty, etc., an objective theory of ethics would be crucial.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in ethics. It is broad in scope, rich in content, and written in a non-technical manner. This book could very well become a classic.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.6 out of 5 stars
5 reviews
23 of 31 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
wrong volume in kindle as of June 27, 2011-not a review
28 Jun 2011
By vivere
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Sorry, this is not a review, just an alert that what you get as of June 27, 2011, is volume TWO, and not volume One as indicated. I reported the problem, and I hope it will be corrected. Before you buy the kindle edition labeled as Volume I, just get the sample first and check to make sure that the mix up has been corrected, unless you want to start with Volume TWO, which also includes some comments for Volume ONE.
11 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A work of genius
3 Nov 2011
By A philosophy professor
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Most professional philosophers regard Derek Parfit as the greatest living moral philosopher. For most the past quarter of a century, Parfit has devoted his formidable philosophical abilities to developing the arguments for the two main claims of his new epic two-volume work. The first of these claims is that the three major traditions in ethical theory - Kantianism, Contractualism, and Consequentialism - ultimately converge. If this is true, much of what we have assumed to be deep and intractable moral disagreement is actually merely superficial, or merely apparent. The second claim is that there are moral truths that are irreducibly normative - that is, not mere expressions of emotions or attitudes, not reducible to natural facts, but not supernatural in origin either. These are conclusions that we have reason to hope are true. And there is a great deal more in these two volumes than just the rigorous arguments for these conclusions. Two major moral philosophers - Peter Singer and Brad Hooker - have both written in published reviews that On What Matters is the most important work in moral philosophy since Henry Sidgwick's Methods of Ethics, which was published in 1873. But that may be too modest, for it is arguable that Parfit has surpassed even Sidgwick. No one who is seriously interested in ethics can afford to not to read these two magisterial volumes.
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unifying Morality
13 Feb 2012
By Jonathan Wolgin
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
I think Parfit presents his ethical views with amazing ingenuity and nearly-robotic clarity, but passionate determination too. In the second half of the book, he argues that we can unify the most plausible versions of three major ethical theories: Kantianism, Social Contract Theory, and Consequentialism. According to his "Triple Theory", we should follow the set of principles that everyone could rationally will to be accepted universally, because such acceptance would make things go best. (p. 413)
In the first half of the book, Parfit tenaciously advances his theory of Objectivism about reasons. This view says facts can give you reasons to act, desire and believe things, regardless of what you may want. Here are two examples: 1) If you can save a bleeding stranger's life just by calling an ambulance, then that fact gives you a reason to do it, even if you'd rather not. 2) Everyone has a decisive reason to avoid agony.
Subjectivists must deny such intuitive claims. On their view, you have a reason to do something just in case you want to, or would want to after careful, informed deliberation. Besides having counterintuitive implications, Parfit argues, Subjectivism is groundless. If our desires are not fundamentally supported by some reason(s), then they are merely arbitrary. Arbitrary desires could not then give us reasons to do things. "So Subjective theories are built on sand," he concludes. (p. 91)
I think Parfit makes many important refinements of Kant's views on respect, consent, desert and the Golden Rule. To my surprise, he seems to show that it's not always wrong to use someone merely as a means to your own ends, and harm him without his consent! For example, suppose that an egoist, his baby daughter and a stranger find themselves trapped in some collapsing wreckage during an earthquake. The only way the egoist can save his daughter's life is by forcibly using the stranger's body in order to shield her from the falling wreckage, causing his leg to bruise. Pace Kant, it does not seem horribly wrong for the egoist to save his baby's life in that way. (p. 231)
Parfit's normative and metaethical views have certainly grown on me. I recommend both volumes of "On What Matters", as his arguments are characteristically inventive, lucid and comprehensive. See my review of Volume 2 if you're curious about that.
In the first half of the book, Parfit tenaciously advances his theory of Objectivism about reasons. This view says facts can give you reasons to act, desire and believe things, regardless of what you may want. Here are two examples: 1) If you can save a bleeding stranger's life just by calling an ambulance, then that fact gives you a reason to do it, even if you'd rather not. 2) Everyone has a decisive reason to avoid agony.
Subjectivists must deny such intuitive claims. On their view, you have a reason to do something just in case you want to, or would want to after careful, informed deliberation. Besides having counterintuitive implications, Parfit argues, Subjectivism is groundless. If our desires are not fundamentally supported by some reason(s), then they are merely arbitrary. Arbitrary desires could not then give us reasons to do things. "So Subjective theories are built on sand," he concludes. (p. 91)
I think Parfit makes many important refinements of Kant's views on respect, consent, desert and the Golden Rule. To my surprise, he seems to show that it's not always wrong to use someone merely as a means to your own ends, and harm him without his consent! For example, suppose that an egoist, his baby daughter and a stranger find themselves trapped in some collapsing wreckage during an earthquake. The only way the egoist can save his daughter's life is by forcibly using the stranger's body in order to shield her from the falling wreckage, causing his leg to bruise. Pace Kant, it does not seem horribly wrong for the egoist to save his baby's life in that way. (p. 231)
Parfit's normative and metaethical views have certainly grown on me. I recommend both volumes of "On What Matters", as his arguments are characteristically inventive, lucid and comprehensive. See my review of Volume 2 if you're curious about that.
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3.6 out of 5 stars
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