From TFA, on Parfit's book "Reasons and Persons": >> The book runs about 500 pages and presents an eclectic variety of arguments, many of them destructive in i

From TFA, on Parfit's book "Reasons and Persons": >> The book runs about 500 pages and presents an eclectic variety of arguments, many of them destructive in intent. Parfit seeks to undermine—among other things—the preeminence of special duties to those close to us, the rational basis for the fear of death, the existence of the soul, that each person is a separate individual, that people exist independently of social conventions, and that people deserve praise or blame for their actions. Reasons & Persons was life-changing for me, esp Part II, that deals with the above, personal identity. Ultimately his philosophy is very consistent with Theravada Buddhism. Much of pre-20th century western philosophy pre-Parfit seems like a category error when compared to Buddhism. I say that as an armchair philosopher recognizing it's likely a gross over-simplification.