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Which candidate would Derek Parfit prefer?
Matt Yglesias says that, as a philosopher, Derek Parfit would (should?) prefer Barack Obama. In Matt's view Obama as President means a smaller chance of existential catastrophe and Parfit is especially concerned (correctly, in my view) with preventing such catastrophes. It's also worth pointing out that Parfit is not such a committed egalitarian. In his view inequality across different time slices of your life is in principle as bad as inequality across different persons; on the self he is a Humean nominalist so what's "a person" anyway? (Has not voter registration in Chicago mastered this perspective some time ago?) So we should worry more about the temporarily suffering and less about the poor, at least insofar as we are driven by egalitarian intuitions.
It always struck me as an awkward question for egalitarians whether the dying elderly -- arguably the poorest people of them all, adjusting for human capital valuations -- should be first in line for claims upon resources. You might argue that the dying elderly had lots of fun in the past, maybe so, but we don't refuse to help out the high-time preference poor on these grounds so why should life history diminish the claims of the elderly?
I don't wish to speak for Parfit but having spent two days in a room with him and Richard Epstein, I can say that a Parfit endorsement of McCain would very much surprise me, existential risk or not.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on June 12, 2008 at 02:41 PM in Philosophy | Permalink
Comments
What here is deeper than a merely partisan position? It is a standard Republican belief that the best way to avoid the existential risk of nuclear war is toughness + missle defense + willingness to bomb or invade potential nuclear proliferators. Ditto, it is a standard Democratic belief that the best way to avoid the existential risk of nuclear war is diplomacy + not scaring the Russians with missle defense + not scaring Iran with invasion.
I don't see how philosophy can settle this difference. (And since i'm not robin hanson, note i'm not endorsing either choice today).
Posted by: DK at Jun 12, 2008 3:58:38 PM
Parfit is a committed "prioritarian", not egalitarian.
Having spent time in his seminars, I would be very surprised if he were satisfied even with Obama's policies. He's far too left for that.
Posted by: Rue Des Quatre Vents at Jun 12, 2008 4:10:17 PM
Can't a political philosopher have a preference for a candidate based on entirely personal reasons unrelated to his philosophy? Like the candidate might give him an ambasadorship, or he likes how he dresses or speaks?
Posted by: David Wright at Jun 12, 2008 5:53:59 PM
Of all the catastrophies that could occur, its the existential ones that always hurt the most. Why is that?
Posted by: at Jun 12, 2008 6:57:05 PM
I don't wish to speak for Parfit but having spent two days in a room with him...
Does he treat the hotel bathroom as if he had many selves?
Posted by: Bob Murphy at Jun 12, 2008 9:47:10 PM
Parfit's claim that probability has nothing to do with ethics may put him in the running with John Rawls for "least Hansonian thinker."
Posted by: Franklin Harris at Jun 12, 2008 9:56:26 PM
Well, the ethics of Parfit might just as well be put like this: Since you do not know who you are going to be tomorrow, you shouldn't worry so much about "yourself" tomorrow as you worry about other people today. Parfit actually deems it irrational to prioritize your own future well-being over other people's contemporary well-being.
Posted by: Sigve Indregard at Jun 13, 2008 1:50:10 AM
"What here is deeper than a merely partisan position? It is a standard Republican belief that the best way to avoid the existential risk of nuclear war is toughness + missle defense + willingness to bomb or invade potential nuclear proliferators. Ditto, it is a standard Democratic belief that the best way to avoid the existential risk of nuclear war is diplomacy + not scaring the Russians with missle defense + not scaring Iran with invasion."
Similarly, it could be argued that ending the anthropogenic warming would lead to an ice age.
Posted by: assman at Jun 13, 2008 11:31:29 AM
It always struck me as an awkward question for egalitarians whether the dying elderly -- arguably the poorest people of them all, adjusting for human capital valuations -- should be first in line for claims upon resources.
Actually, the dying elderly are pretty well off (check out the graph). I'm guessing most old are richer because they've had enough time to squirrel planty away. The general case seems to be people successfully squirreling money until retirement - but when they die, they don't need the retirement cash anymore, bwahaha... ;-).
No doubt I'm just not understanding your human capital comment.
Posted by: Jon Kay at Jun 13, 2008 11:31:59 AM
I just finished a seminar with Parfit at NYU. He is largely concerned with the environment, so he is for the 'greenest' candidate: in both senses that is Obama.
Posted by: Nathan at Oct 31, 2008 12:45:11 AM
I just finished a seminar with Parfit at NYU. He is largely concerned with the environment, so he is for the 'greenest' candidate: in both senses that is Obama.
Posted by: Nathan at Oct 31, 2008 12:45:38 AM
I just finished a seminar with Parfit at NYU. He is largely concerned with the environment, so he is for the 'greenest' candidate: in both senses that is Obama.
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