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<title>On What Matters</title>

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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><i>On What Matters</i></span>

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</style><table class="infobox ib-book vcard"><caption class="infobox-title">On What Matters </caption><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Author</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="Derek_Parfit" title="Derek Parfit">Derek Parfit</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Language</th><td class="infobox-data">English</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Subject</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="Ethics" title="Ethics">Ethics</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Publisher</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="Oxford_University_Press" title="Oxford University Press">Oxford University Press</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;">Publication date</div></th><td class="infobox-data">26 May 2011</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Media type</th><td class="infobox-data">Print (<a href="Hardcover" title="Hardcover">Hardcover</a>)</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Pages</th><td class="infobox-data">1,928</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">

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<p><i><b>On What Matters</b></i> is a three-volume book of <a href="Moral_philosophy" class="mw-redirect" title="Moral philosophy">moral philosophy</a> by <a href="Derek_Parfit" title="Derek Parfit">Derek Parfit</a>. The first two volumes were published in 2011 and the third in 2017. It is a follow-up to Parfit's 1984 book <i><a href="Reasons_and_Persons" title="Reasons and Persons">Reasons and Persons</a></i>. It has an introduction by <a href="Samuel_Scheffler" title="Samuel Scheffler">Samuel Scheffler</a>.

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Summary">Summary</h2></div>

<p>Parfit defends an objective ethical theory and suggests that we have reasons to act that cannot be accounted for by subjective ethical theories. Furthermore, it attempts to present a moral theory that combines three traditional approaches in moral and political philosophy: <a href="Immanuel_Kant" title="Immanuel Kant">Kantian</a> <a href="Deontology" title="Deontology">deontology</a>, <a href="Consequentialism" title="Consequentialism">consequentialism</a>, and <a href="Contractualism" title="Contractualism">contractualism</a> (of the sort advocated by <a href="T._M._Scanlon" title="T. M. Scanlon">T. M. Scanlon</a>, and from the tradition of <a href="Thomas_Hobbes" title="Thomas Hobbes">Thomas Hobbes</a>, <a href="John_Locke" title="John Locke">John Locke</a>, <a href="Jean-Jacques_Rousseau" title="Jean-Jacques Rousseau">Jean-Jacques Rousseau</a> and <a href="John_Rawls" title="John Rawls">John Rawls</a>).<sup id="cite_ref-NDPR_1-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-NDPR-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> According to Parfit, these theories converge rather than disagree, "climbing the same mountain on different sides", in Parfit's metaphor.<sup id="cite_ref-THES_2-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-THES-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>Parfit labels his synthesis of these three ethical theories the "<b>Triple Theory</b>":<sup id="cite_ref-Kitcher_3-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Kitcher-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

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<blockquote><p>An act is wrong if and only if, or just when, such acts are disallowed by some principle that is

</p><ol><li>one of the principles whose being universal laws would make things go best,</li>

<li>one of the only principles whose being universal laws everyone could rationally will....</li>

<li>a principle that no one could reasonably reject. </li></ol></blockquote>

<p>On Parfit's view, these three criteria (a) represent the best versions of consequentialism, Kantian ethics, and contractualism respectively, and (b) should generally agree in their recommendations. Both claims have proven controversial.

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Writing">Writing</h2></div>

<p>The manuscript, originally titled <i>Climbing the Mountain,</i> circulated for many years prior to publication, and occasioned a great deal of excitement, including reading groups and a conference prior to publication.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>Some of <i>On What Matters</i> is derived from lectures given at the <a href="University_of_California%2C_Berkeley" title="University of California, Berkeley">University of California, Berkeley</a> as part of the <a href="Tanner_Lectures_on_Human_Values" title="Tanner Lectures on Human Values">Tanner Lectures on Human Values</a> in 2002. As part of that series at Berkeley, Parfit's lectures were responded to by <a href="Allen_W._Wood" title="Allen W. Wood">Allen W. Wood</a>, <a href="T._M._Scanlon" title="T. M. Scanlon">T. M. Scanlon</a> and <a href="Susan_R._Wolf" title="Susan R. Wolf">Susan Wolf</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Reception">Reception</h2></div>

<p>The economist <a href="Tyler_Cowen" title="Tyler Cowen">Tyler Cowen</a> has expressed admiration for Parfit's style ("Reading him is an unforgettable and illuminating experience") in <i>On What Matters</i>, but argues:

</p>

<dl><dd>I see the biggest and most central part of the book as a failure, possibly wrong but more worryingly "not even wrong" and simply missing the questions defined by where the frontier – <a href="Behavioral_economics" title="Behavioral economics">choice theory</a> and not just philosophic ethics – has been for some time.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></dd></dl>

<p><a href="Peter_Singer" title="Peter Singer">Peter Singer</a> was far more positive, saying that Parfit's arguments "put those who reject objectivism in ethics on the defensive".<sup id="cite_ref-singer_7-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-singer-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p><a href="Constantine_Sandis" title="Constantine Sandis">Constantine Sandis</a> raises an objection to Parfit's project: the various "theories may well converge on their recommendations, but to think that the actions that follow from them are <i>all</i> that matters is to already presuppose the truth of consequentialism". Sandis jokes that the significance of Parfit's work, despite his scant publication record, should cause us to question the "<a href="Publish_or_perish" title="Publish or perish">publish or perish</a>" demands of the <a href="Research_Excellence_Framework" title="Research Excellence Framework">Research Excellence Framework</a>, but "whether it will change the way we think about morality remains to be seen".<sup id="cite_ref-THES_2-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-THES-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>The sheer length of time Parfit took to write the text, and the increasing incompatibility of such extended work with the demands of academic life was raised by <a href="Nigel_Thrift" title="Nigel Thrift">Nigel Thrift</a>, vice-chancellor of the <a href="University_of_Warwick" title="University of Warwick">University of Warwick</a>, in a blog post on the <a href="Chronicle_of_Higher_Education" class="mw-redirect" title="Chronicle of Higher Education">Chronicle of Higher Education</a> website:

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<dl><dd>Parfit's life has been able to be intellectually uncompromising because he found the infrastructure – especially All Souls College in Oxford, which does no undergraduate teaching – that allowed it to be. But I wonder how much longer that kind of infrastructure will be available in all but a few universities.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></dd></dl>

<p>The philosopher <a href="Roger_Scruton" title="Roger Scruton">Roger Scruton</a> questioned the appropriateness of the title of the book, writing in 2015 "Nothing that really matters to human beings – their loves, responsibilities, attachments, their delights, aesthetic values, and spiritual needs – occurs in Parfit’s interminable narrative. All is swept into a corner by the great broom of utilitarian reasoning, to be left there in a heap of dust".<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

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<li id="cite_note-NDPR-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-NDPR_1-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFSchroeder2011" class="citation journal cs1"><a href="Mark_Schroeder_(philosopher)" title="Mark Schroeder (philosopher)">Schroeder, Mark</a> (4 August 2011). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://ndpr.nd.edu/news/25393-on-what-matters-volumes-1-and-2/">"On What Matters, Volumes 1 and 2"</a>. <i>Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews</i>. University of Notre Dame.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-THES-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-THES_2-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-THES_2-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFConstantine_Sandis2011" class="citation journal cs1">Constantine Sandis (9 June 2011). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=416411">"Not quite the top of the mountain"</a>. <i>Times Higher Education Supplement</i>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-Kitcher-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Kitcher_3-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFKitcher2012" class="citation magazine cs1">Kitcher, Philip (11 January 2012). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.tnr.com/article/books/magazine/99529/on-what-matters-derek-parfit">"The Lure of the Peak"</a>. <i>The New Republic</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">6 April</span> 2012</span>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFSuikkanen2011" class="citation journal cs1">Suikkanen, Jussi (Third Quarter 2011). "Parfit's mountain". <i>The Philosophers' Magazine</i> (54): <span class="nowrap">102–</span>103. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.5840%2Ftpm20115452">10.5840/tpm20115452</a>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/tanner/0203.shtml">"2002-2003 Lecture Series"</a>. <i>Tanner Lectures on Human Value</i>. University of California, Berkeley<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">6 April</span> 2012</span>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFCowen2011" class="citation web cs1">Cowen, Tyler (7 July 2011). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/07/on-what-matters-vol-i-review-of-derek-parfit.html">"On What Matters, vol. I, review of Derek Parfit"</a>. <i>Marginal Revolution</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">5 April</span> 2012</span>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-singer-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-singer_7-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFSinger2011" class="citation web cs1">Singer, Peter (13 June 2011). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2011/06/18/3247495.htm">"Does Anything Matter?"</a>. Australian Broadcasting Corporation<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">6 April</span> 2011</span>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFThrift2011" class="citation web cs1">Thrift, Nigel (21 September 2011). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://chronicle.com/blogs/worldwise/derek-parfit-and-the-future-of-the-academic-workload/28688">"Derek Parfit and the future of the academic workload"</a>. <i>WorldWise</i>. Chronicle of Higher Education<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">6 April</span> 2012</span>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFScruton2015" class="citation web cs1"><a href="Roger_Scruton" title="Roger Scruton">Scruton, Roger</a> (21 December 2015). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.firstthings.com/article/2015/12/living-with-a-mind">"Living with a Mind"</a>. First Things<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">18 March</span> 2017</span>.</cite></span>

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