Past Desires and the Dead

Author: Luper, Steven

Source: Philosophical Studies, Volume 126, Number 3, December 2005 , pp. 331-345(15)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

I examine an argument that appears to take us from Parfit’s [Reasons and Persons, Oxford: Clarendon Press (1984)] thesis that we have no reason to fulfil desires we no longer care about to the conclusion that the effect of posthumous events on our desires is a matter of indifference (the post-mortem thesis). I suspect that many of Parfit’s readers, including Vorobej [Philosophical Studies 90 (1998) 305], think that he is committed to (something like) this reasoning, and that Parfit must therefore give up the post-mortem thesis. However, as it turns out, the argument is subtly equivocal and does not commit Parfit to the post-mortem thesis. I close with some doubts about Parfit’s case for his indifference thesis.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11098-004-7815-0

Affiliations: 1: Department of Philosophy, Trinity University, One Trinity place, 78212, San Antonio, TX, USA, Email: sluper@trinity.edu

Publication date: 2005-12-01