Ethics and Existence: The Legacy of Derek Parfit

584 Pages·2022·3.916 MB·English

by  Jeff McMahan, Tim Campbell, James Goodrich, and Ketan Ramakrishnan

OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,16/11/2021,SPi
Ethics and Existence
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,16/11/2021,SPi
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,16/11/2021,SPi
Ethics and Existence
fi
The Legacy of Derek Par t
Editedby
JEFF MCMAHAN
TIM CAMPBELL
JAMES GOODRICH,
and
KETAN RAMAKRISHNAN
1
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,16/11/2021,SPi
3
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Contents
List ofP igu心 vii
Contributors ix
Introduction
Jeff McMahan
PART I. CAUSING PEOPLE TO EXIST AND
TH£ NON-JD£NTITY PROBLEM
I. The Asymmetry 15
Ralf M. Bader
2. The Value and Probabilities of Existence 38
M.A. Rob邱
3. Compnring氐stenceand Non-Ex:伈tence 61
Hilary Gr印vesand Jolin Cusbert
4. The Impure Non-Identity 1忱blem 93
Patrick Tomlin
5. Abortion and the Non-Identity Problem 112
以加l,e_tiI Harmnn
6. A Partial Solution to 山eNon-Identity Problem:管 Regretting
One Was Born皿d Hnving a Life Not Subjectively Worth Living 130
Andrew McGee a,ul Julian Savu／立U
PART II. THE REPUGNANT CONCLUSION, FUTURE
GENERATIONS, AND EXTINCTION
7. Population Ethics Forty Years On: Some Lessons压med
from "Box Ethics..159
切可 Tem枷
8. Totalism 面thout llepugnance 200
Jacob M. Nebel
9. Context-Dependent Betterness and the Mere Addition Paradox 232
Joliam1 Frick
vi CONTENTS
10. Saving Posterity from a Worse Fate 264
Niko Kolodny
I 1. Against Large Number Scepticism 311
Andreas L Mogensen
12. Are We Living at the Hinge of History? 331
William MacAski/1
13. On Theory X and What Matters Most 358
S. f. Beard and Patrick Kaczmarek
PART Ill. EVALUATIVE IMPRECISION,
INCOMMENSURABILITY, AND
VAGUENESS IN VALUE
14. How to Avoid the Repugnant Conclusion 389
Ruth Chang
15. Can Par_fit'sA ppeal to lnconunensurabilities in Value Block
the Continuum Argument for the Repugnant Conclusion? 430
Wlodek Rabinowicz
16. Population Ethics and Conflict-of-Value Imprecision 461
Gustaf A订henius
17. On Evaluative Imprecision 478
Ternji Thomas
18. Sorites on What Matters 498
Theron Pumm钉
PART IV. PRIORIT ARIANISM IN
POPULATION ETHICS
19. Prioritarianism, Population Ethics, and Competing Claims 527
Midiael Otsuka
20. Quarantining Prioritarianism 552
Shlomi Segall
Index 577
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,16/11/2021,SPi
List of Figures
1.1. LivesNoLongerWorthLiving 27
2.1. MiserableChildCase 42
2.2. ThreeOutcomeCase 44
2.3. BetterChanceCase 49
2.4. BadLivesCase 55
2.5. MedicationCase 58
4.1. DoubleOverdeterminationCases 109
7.1. DiagramOne 160
7.2. DiagramTwo 163
7.3. DiagramThree 164
7.4. DiagramFour 178
7.5. DiagramFive 188
9.1. TheSpectrumArgumentfortheRepugnantConclusion 234
9.2. TheMereAdditionParadox 235
9.3. DecomposingthemovefromAtoB 236
9.4. ComparingAandA+ 237
9.5. TheUp-DownCase 238
9.6. AMereAdditionCasewithdifferentindividualsinA+andB 259
9.7. AMereAdditionCasewithdifferentextrapeopleinA+andB 260
10.1. ReasonableTrade-Off 269
10.2. ReasonableTrade-Off(Negative) 270
10.3. RepugnantChoice 279
10.4. IgnoringtheBestOff 280
10.5. MereAddition 284
10.6. SadisticChoice:CriticalLevel 287
10.7. SadisticChoice:AverageUtilitarianism 287
10.8. ConstructingaSadisticChoice:Step1 288
10.9. ConstructingaSadisticChoice:Step2 288
10.10. ReasonableTrade-Off 294
10.11. MereAddition 295
10.12. Cycling 298
10.13. IgnoringtheUnaffected:Equality 301
10.14. IgnoringtheUnaffected:Average 302
10.15. IgnoringtheUnaffected:SadisticChoice 302
12.1. Thevaluelock-inview 341
12.2. Howinfluentialnessmayvaryovertime 342
13.1. MereAdditionParadox 369
13.2. AnotherVersionoftheMereAdditionParadox 374
14.1. Parfit’scontinuum 393
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viii   
14.2. TheZone 396
14.3. Againstincomparability 399
14.4. Parfit’sImpreciseLexicalitySolution 408
14.5. TheParitySolution 412
16.1. Figure16.1 462
16.2. TheQuantitySequence 467
16.3. TheSequentialDominanceAdditionParadox 470
16.4. Figure16.4 474
19.1. Prioritarianmoralvalueofaperson’swell-being 529
19.2. Utilitarianmoralvalueofaperson’swell-being 530
19.3. Case1 540
19.4. Case1* 540
19.5. Case10 547
19.6. Case2 549
19.7. Case2* 549
20.1. TheRepugnantConclusion 554
20.2. TheSadisticConclusion 558
20.3. CriticalLevelPrioritarianism 559
20.4. Welfaredispersal(fixednumbers) 560
20.5. Welfaredispersal(non-fixedpopulation) 561
20.6. TheNegativeRepugnantConclusion 563
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,16/11/2021,SPi
Contributors
GustafArrhenius,InstituteforFuturesStudiesandStockholmUniversity
RalfBader,UniversitédeFribourg
S.J.Beard,UniversityofCambridge
RuthChang,UniversityofOxford
JohnCusbert,independentscholar
JohannFrick,UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley
HilaryGreaves,UniversityofOxford
ElizabethHarman,PrincetonUniversity
PatrickKaczmarek,UniversityofCambridge
NikoKolodny,UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley
WilliamMacAskill,UniversityofOxford
AndrewMcGee,QueenslandUniversityofTechnology
AndreasMogensen,UniversityofOxford
JacobNebel,UniversityofSouthernCalifornia
MichaelOtsuka,RutgersUniversity
TheronPummer,UniversityofSt.Andrews
WlodekRabinowicz,LundUniversity
MelindaRoberts,CollegeofNewJersey
JulianSavulescu,UniversityofOxford
ShlomiSegall,HebrewUniversityofJerusalem
LarryTemkin,RutgersUniversity
TerujiThomas,UniversityofOxford
PatrickTomlin,UniversityofWarwick