Includes bibliographical references and indexes

Parfit and indirectly self-defeating theories / Jonathan Dancy -- Rationality and the rational aim / David Gauthier -- Which effects? / Frank Jackson -- Parfit and the time of value / Michael Stocker -- Parfit's P / Philip Pettit and Michael Smith -- Rational egoism and the separateness of persons / David O. Brink -- Parfit on identity / Sydney Shoemaker -- Human concerns without superlative selves / Mark Johnston -- Has Kant refuted Parfit? / Simon Blackburn -- People and their bodies / Judith Jarvis Thomson -- Reductionism and the first person / John McDowell -- Should ethics be more impersonal? / Robert Merrihew Adams -- Rethinking the good, moral ideals and the nature of practical reasoning / Larry S. Temkin

When it was first published in 1984, Derek Parfit's Reasons and Persons was heralded as one of the most significant achievements in moral philosophy to have appeared in recent times. Now Reading Parfit brings together some of the most distinguished scholars in the field to discuss and critique each of the four parts of this outstanding work, and present a detailed response to Parfit's philosophical perspective. Including thirteen essays, of which the majority have been written especially for this volume, Reading Parfit will be an invaluable collection for both students and scholars working in the fields of metaphysics and moral philosophy