How To Be Good | The New Yorker

An Oxford philosopher thinks he can distill all morality into a formula. Is he right?

Save this story Save this story What makes me the same person throughout my life, and a different person from you? And what is the importance of these facts? I believe that most of us have false beliefs about our own nature, and our identity over time, and that, when we see the truth, we ought to change some of our beliefs about what we have reason to do. Derek Parfit has few memories of his past and almost never thinks about it, a fact that he attributes to an inability to form mental images. Photograph by Steve Pyke / GETTY You are in a terrible accident. Your body is fatally injured, as are

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