more on this theme | more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
It becomes more plausible, when thinking morally, to focus less upon the person, the subject of experiences, and instead to focus more upon the experiences themselves.
Gist of Idea
We should focus less on subjects of experience, and more on the experiences themselves
Source
Derek Parfit (Reasons and Persons [1984], §116)
Book Ref
Parfit,Derek: 'Reasons and Persons' [OUP 1985], p.341
A Reaction
This pinpoints how Parfit moves from a view of persons in terms of continuity of consciousness to a utilitarian morality. It brings out nicely what is wrong with utilitarianism - the reductio of a great ball of nice experiences, with no one having them.