The Non-Identity Problem

What is it that makes you the same person that you were ten minutes ago, ten hours ago, ten years ago? Derek Parfit, in his seminal work ‘Reasons and Persons’ (1984) recognises the interplay between personal identity and ethics, something which produces a puzzling paradox of existence. If a person's existence is inevitably flawed, is it morally wrong to bring such a person into existence or, is bringing a different, better-off, but non identical person in their place is a more ethical decision? The non-identity problem asks whether we have really made anyone better off.

In this episode, Todd Horton, law graduate from Trinity College, will be interviewing Professor Christopher Fowels, Postdoctoral Fellow in Philosophy at Trinity College, in seeking to untangle this complex paradox.