Derek Parfit Has Died (Physically)

by John Holbo on January 2, 2017

Parfit was a great philosopher, and derived a mildly unfair advantage from looking more than a bit like Peter O’Toole. If you just read Reasons and Persons, then looked at a lineup of Ph.D.’s in philosophy, I think you’d probably go: ‘that’s the guy! Gotta be!’ Also, Reasons and Persons is definitely the major work of philosophy most deserving of being rewritten in ‘plan your own adventure’ format. ‘If you think the resulting hivemind will still be you, turn to page 347. If not, turn to page 360.’ That sort of thing.

Let us extend his identity ensure that his psychological life rolls on, albeit in a branching way, by remembering him well. Psychological connectedness and all that.

{ 12 comments }

1

Evan Harper 01.02.17 at 6:01 pm

> Reasons and Persons is definitely the major work of philosophy most deserving of being rewritten in ‘plan your own adventure’ format.

If you think about it, “Reasons and Persons” even scans exactly the same as “Dungeons and Dragons.”

2

Mavaddat Javid 01.02.17 at 6:05 pm

A less than reverent or respectful obituary if you ask me. The “died (physically)” joke makes it seem like you thought he was already dead in a non-physical way.

3

John Holbo 01.02.17 at 7:02 pm

Reverent? No. Respectful? Highly!

4

John Holbo 01.02.17 at 7:48 pm

I met the man about 20 years ago. He radiated a boyish and genial air of paradoxicality. I feel confident he would not take amiss an attempt to project that psychological atmosphere over the event of his biological death. His ideas in the minds of thousands, and fond memories of reading and meeting him, would have been acceptable to him, in the mortal exchange.

5

LFC 01.02.17 at 10:19 pm

Speaking of eminent academics who have died recently, now that it’s January and my monthly quota of free WaPo articles starts up again, I can read H. Farrell’s Dec. 13 Monkey Cage piece on Thomas Schelling, which I’ve just bookmarked. Unless I’ve missed something (which is possible), no one at Crooked Timber — neither front-page poster nor commenter — has mentioned Schelling’s death, whether to praise, criticize, or do neither.

6

Chet Murthy 01.02.17 at 10:24 pm

As someone who read _Reasons and Persons_ in college lo! these many decades, I got the (respectful) joke instantly. Indeed, he -isn’t- dead, for he lives on in the many minds he touched thru his writing (and other works, I’m sure).

7

Peter T 01.02.17 at 11:11 pm

The Elder Edda: ” I know one thing that never dies: the dead man’s reputation”. So Genghis Khan lives on….

8

MrMister 01.03.17 at 2:19 am

I read Reasons and Persons the summer after my first year of graduate school, and was thoroughly taken with it. Let us hope that Parfit actually does live on in others, though perhaps in his earlier and more militantly reductionist phase he would have rejected the cogency of any such fact of the matter. But regardless of whether I carry his ghost forward, I’d be happy just to have a bit of his qualitative traits: originality, systematicity, breadth.

A glass to him.

9

ZM 01.03.17 at 7:38 am

Mavaddat Javid,

“A less than reverent or respectful obituary if you ask me. The “died (physically)” joke makes it seem like you thought he was already dead in a non-physical way.”

I read it as meaning he was still alive in a non-physical way if that is any consolation to you. (I don’t have any familiarity with his work, so I don’t know if that makes a difference?)

10

Mark Jenkins 01.04.17 at 1:31 pm

Parfit in a lineup of Philosophy PhDs? Only under false pretenses. Refreshingly, Parfit’s highest degree was an MA (Oxford).

11

Maria 01.04.17 at 2:24 pm

Per Chet @6, as someone who just ordered a copy of Reasons and Persons yesterday morning, I, too, got the joke and fancied Parfit might have as well. Nicely done, John.

12

Dave Maier 01.06.17 at 1:32 am

‘If you think the resulting hivemind will still be you, turn to page 347. If not, turn to page 360.’

Brilliant. I got R & P used, and in my copy the first twenty or so pages feature a torrent of underlining, highlighting, and mostly critical marginalia, including at one point a highly sarcastic “Thank You Derek Parfit”. He lives on indeed!

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