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Article
Past Desires and The Dead
Philosophical Studies
  • Steven Luper, Trinity University
Document Type
Post-Print
Publication Date
1-1-2005
Disciplines
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 fulfill 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.

Identifier
10.1007/s11098-004-7815-0
Publisher
Kluwer Academic Publishers
Citation Information
Luper, S. (2005). Past desires and the dead. Philosophical Studies, 126(3), 331-345. doi:10.1007/s11098-004-7815-0