This is the first volume of a major work in moral philosophy, the long-awaited follow-up to Parfit's classic Reasons and Persons, a landmark of 20th-century philosophy. Parfit presents a powerful new treatment of reasons and a critical examination of the most prominent systematic moral theories, leading to his own ground-breaking conclusion.

• Introduction


• Preface


• Summary


• PART ONE: REASONS


• NORMATIVE CONCEPTS


• OBJECTIVE THEORIES


• SUBJECTIVE THEORIES


• FURTHER ARGUMENTS


• RATIONALITY


• MORALITY


• MORAL CONCEPTS


• PART TWO: PRINCIPLES


• POSSIBLE CONSENT


• MERELY AS A MEANS


• RESPECT AND VALUE


• FREE WILL AND DESERT


• PART THREE: THEORIES


• UNIVERSAL LAWS


• WHAT IF EVERYONE DID THAT?


• IMPARTIALITY


• CONTRACTUALISM


• CONSEQUENTIALISM


• CONCLUSIONS


• Appendices


• Notes to Volume One


• References


• Bibliography


• Index

Derek Parfit is one of the leading philosophers of our time. He is a Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford, Global Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at New York University, and a Fellow of the British Academy and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the author of Reasons and Persons(OUP, 1984), one of the most influential books in philosophy of the last several decades.