Notice bibliographique
- Notice
Type(s) de contenu et mode(s) de consultation : Texte noté. Image fixe : sans médiation
Auteur(s) : Edmonds, David (1964-....)
Titre(s) : Parfit [Texte imprimé] : a philosopher and his mission to save morality / David Edmonds
Publication : Princeton (N.J.) : Princeton university press, copyright 2023
Description matérielle : 1 vol. (XXII-380 p.-16 pl.) : ill. ; 25 cm
Note(s) : Bibliogr. p. 365-367. Notes bibliogr. Index
"Derek Parfit (1942-2017) is the most famous philosopher you've likely never heard
of. In 1984, Parfit published what was, and is still, hailed by many philosophers
as a work of genius - one of the most cited works of philosophy since World War II,
Reasons and Persons. At its core, he argued that we should be concerned less with
our own interests and more with the common good. His book brims with brilliant argumentative
detail and stunningly inventive thought experiments that challenged contemporary views
about what it means to be a person, why one should forego concern for oneself as an
identity that persists over time, what it means to act on the basis of reasons, and
what we owe to future generations. Parfit also - unfashionably at the time - believed
in a kind of grand unified theory of morality, what he called theory x, a non-religious
ethical theory wherein all the major moral theories were converging from different
sides on the same mountaintop. Parfit has had an enormous influence not only on philosophy,
but also beyond, particularly amongst those in the fields of climate ethics, poverty
relief, and charitable giving. In this book, the first-full scale biography of Parfit,
Dave Edmonds tells the story of the thinker that many philosophers consider the most
important moral philosopher of the last century. Edmonds' rendering of the man in
full skilfully illuminates the person behind the acclaimed philosopher. Despite Parfit's
extraordinary mind, outward appearances suggest his was also an extraordinarily uneventful
life - one largely spent in cloistered institutions from Eton to Oxford and one seemingly
monomaniacally devoted to ideas. Edmonds' aim is to show how this son and grandson
of missionaries went from a genial and outgoing history student to a captivating,
yet monkish philosopher singularly devoted to saving morality. In doing so, Edmonds
makes Parfit's profound, but often impenetrable, ideas accessible to a broad audience
and gives life and body to the thoughts of a seemingly pure thinker that captured
the imagination of a generation of philosophers" ; "From the bestselling coauthor
of Wittgenstein's Poker, an entertaining and illuminating biography of a brilliant
philosopher who tried to rescue morality from nihilismDerek Parfit (1942-2017) is
the most famous philosopher most people have never heard of. Regarded by some as the
greatest moral thinker since John Stuart Mill, Parfit was anything but a public intellectual.
Yet his ideas have shaped the way philosophers think about things that affect us all:
equality, altruism, what we owe to future generations, and even what it means to be
a person. In Parfit, David Edmonds presents the first biography of an intriguing,
obsessive, and eccentric genius. Believing that we should be less concerned with ourselves
and more with the common good, Parfit dedicated himself to the pursuit of philosophical
progress to an extraordinary degree. He always wore gray trousers and a white shirt
so as not to lose precious time picking out clothes, he varied his diet as little
as possible, and he had only one serious non-philosophical interest, taking photos
of Oxford, Venice, and St. Petersburg. In the latter half of his life, he single-mindedly
devoted himself to a desperate attempt to rescue secular morality-morality without
God-by arguing that it has an objective, rational basis. For Parfit, the stakes could
scarcely have been higher. If he couldn't demonstrate that there are objective facts
about right and wrong, he believed, his life was futile and all our lives were meaningless.
Connecting Parfit's work and life and offering a clear introduction to his profound
and challenging ideas, Parfit is a powerful portrait of an extraordinary thinker who
continues to have a remarkable influence on the world of ideas"
Autre(s) forme(s) du titre :
- Autre forme du titre : Philosopher and his mission to save morality
Sujet(s) : Parfit, Derek (1942-2017)
Indice(s) Dewey :
192 (23e éd.) = Philosophie occidentale moderne - Îles britanniques
Identifiants, prix et caractéristiques : ISBN 9780691225234 (rel.). - ISBN 0691225230
Identifiant de la notice : ark:/12148/cb47174035p
Notice n° :
FRBNF47174035
(notice reprise d'un réservoir extérieur)
