Parfit: A Philosopher and His Mission to Save Morality

Parfit: A Philosopher and His Mission to Save Morality - Hardcover

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Parfit: A Philosopher and His Mission to Save Morality
  • Parfit: A Philosopher and His Mission to Save Morality
Parfit: A Philosopher and His Mission to Save Morality - Hardcover

Parfit: A Philosopher and His Mission to Save Morality - Hardcover

by David Edmonds
$34.00
$34.00

Book Overview

by David Edmonds (Author)

From the bestselling coauthor of Wittgenstein's Poker, an entertaining and illuminating biography of a brilliant philosopher who tried to rescue morality from nihilism

Derek Parfit (1942-2017) is the most famous philosopher most people have never heard of. Widely regarded as one of the greatest moral thinkers of the past hundred years, 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.

Author Biography

David Edmonds is a writer and philosopher whose many critically acclaimed books have been translated into more than two dozen languages. He is the author of The Murder of Professor Schlick and Would You Kill the Fat Man? (both Princeton) and the coauthor, with John Eidinow, of the international bestseller Wittgenstein's Poker. He and Nigel Warburton cohost the popular Philosophy Bites podcast.

Number of Pages: 408
Dimensions: 1.5 x 9.3 x 6.2 IN
Illustrated: Yes
Publication Date: April 18, 2023
ISBN9780691225234
Author David Edmonds
PublisherPrinceton University Press
GenreBiography and Philosophy
FormatHardcover
PublishedApril 2023
LanguageENG- English
Pages408
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceAdults
Print SizeStandard Print

Related Subjects

Biography & Autobiography Nonfiction Philosophy

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More by David Edmonds

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About David Edmonds

David Edmonds is the bestselling author of many critically acclaimed and popular books on philosophy, including Wittgenstein's Poker (with John Eidinow). His other books include Parfit, The Murder of Professor Schlick, and Would You Kill the Fat Man? (all Princeton). A Distinguished Research Fellow at the University of Oxford's Uehiro Oxford Institute and a former BBC radio journalist, Edmonds hosts, with Nigel Warburton, the Philosophy Bites podcast, which has been downloaded nearly 50 million times.

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