This book challenges, with several powerful arguments, some of our deepest beliefs about rationality, morality, and personal identity. The author claims that we have a false view of our own nature; that it is often rational to act against our own best interests; that most of us have moral views that are directly self-defeating; and that, when we consider future generations the conclusions will often be disturbing. He concludes that non-religious moral philosophy is a young subject, with a promising but unpredictable future.
| ISBN | 019824908X | | Volumes | 1 | | ISBN13 | 9780198249085
(What's this?) | | Weight (grammes) | 588 | | Publisher | Oxford University Press | | Published in | Oxford | | Imprint | Oxford Paperbacks | | Series editor | Wells, Stanley | | Format | Paperback | | Series title | Oxford Paperbacks | | Publication date | 23 Jan 1986 | | Height (mm) | 196 | | Library of Congress | BJ1012.P39 | | Width (mm) | 129 | | DEWEY | 170 | | Spine width (mm) | 29 | | DEWEY edition | DC21 | | Academic level | Professional / Scholarly | | Pages | 560 | |
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"Very few works in the subject can compare with Parfit's in scope, fertility, imaginative resource, and cogency of reasoning."--P.F. Strawson, The New York Review of Books
"Complex, brilliant, and entertaining....This book is chock-full of impressive arguments, many of which seem destined to become part of the standard analytic repertory....It is an understatement to say that it is well worth reading."--International Studies in Philosophy
"Extraordinary...Brilliant...Astonishingly rich in ideas...A major contribution to philosophy: it will be read, honoured, and argued about for many years to come."--Samuel Scheffler, Times Literary Supplement
"A brilliantly clever and imaginative book...Strange and excitingly intense."--Alan Ryan, Sunday Times (London)
"Not many books reset the philosophical agenda in the way that this one does....Western philosophy, especially systematic ethics, will not be the same again."--Philosophical Books
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