All perspectives

Perspective voyage · 1984

Parfit — Can we harm future people whose existence depends on our choice?

If a better policy would have meant that this person never existed, can the present policy be said to make that person worse off?

The question that moves this idea

What do we owe future people and the more-than-human world?

Instead of memorizing a conclusion, follow the evidence scenes to see what this perspective distinguishes and where its explanation stops.

Scene 1 / 2Evidence-linked account

The nonidentity problem arises when different long-term policies cause different people to exist, frustrating a purely person-affecting account of harm as making someone worse off than otherwise.

Open evidence for this scene

This sentence is an editorial paraphrase linked to the listed sources, not a direct quotation.

  • The Nonidentity Problem

    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

    Locator: §1 The Problem; policy and future-person cases

    Open source

Time × place

Where the idea met time and place

We do not invent a birthplace for an idea. Only evidence-backed events such as writing, publication, teaching, and reception appear here.

Keep the voyage moving

Where should this perspective lead?