On What Matters: Volume One

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.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