2024-04-11
20 分钟David Edmonds discusses the life and work of Derek Parfit who died in 2017 in this episode of the Bio Bites strand of Philosophy. David is the author of a recent biography of Parfit.
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Warburton, and me, David Edmonds.
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there's a lot of interest in philosophers lives at the moment, and we've decided to interview a number of biographers of philosophers, starting with philosophy by its co creator, David Edmonds.
I asked him about his life of the quirky Oxford philosopher Derek Parfitt, who's famous for his imaginative thought experiments and reflections on the nature of the self.
So welcome to the first of our mini series, Bio Bytes.
David Edmonds, welcome to philosophy Bites.
Thanks very much.
It's a podcast I've heard a lot about, so I'm delighted to be here.
The topic we're going to focus on today is Derek, his life and philosophy.
Now those aren't two separate questions.
The issue of what his life was like and his philosophy.
What we're interested in is the interrelationship between the two.
But before we get onto that, could you just give the briefest sketch of what his life was like?
So from one perspective, his life is extremely dull.
He spends it literally in cloisters.
He goes first to a prep school in England, then he goes to a boarding school, the most famous school in England, Eton.
Then he goes to Oxford, then he spends time on a fellowship in America.