Derek Parfit
| Derek Parfit | |
|---|---|
.jpg)
Derek Parfit at Harvard University in April 2015
|
|
| Born |
11 December 1942 Chengdu, Republic of China |
| Died | 1 January 2017 (aged 74) Oxford, England, United Kingdom |
| Education | Eton College |
| Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford |
| Spouse(s) | Janet Radcliffe Richards |
| Awards | Rolf Schock Prizes in Logic and Philosophy (2014) |
| Era | Contemporary philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Analytic philosophy |
|
Main interests
|
Ethics, personal identity, rationalism, consequentialism, philosophy of mind |
|
Notable ideas
|
Relation R Repugnant conclusion Triple Theory |
Derek Parfit (11 December 1942 – 1 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.
His 1984 book Reasons and Persons is often described as the most significant work of moral philosophy since the 1800s. His last 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 2014 Rolf Schock Prize "for his groundbreaking contributions concerning personal identity, regard for future generations, and analysis of the structure of moral theories."
Parfit was born in 1942 in Chengdu, China, the son of Jessie (née Browne) and Norman Parfit, medical doctors who had moved to Western China to teach preventive medicine in missionary hospitals. The family returned to the United Kingdom about a year after Parfit was born, settling in Oxford. Parfit was educated at Eton College. From an early age, he endeavoured to become a poet, but he gave up poetry towards the end of his adolescence. He later studied Modern History at the University of Oxford, graduating in 1964. In 1965–66 he was a Harkness Fellow at Columbia University and Harvard University. He abandoned historical studies for philosophy during the fellowship, returning to Oxford to become a fellow of All Souls College.
...
Wikipedia