Guest Essay: The Time-Relative Account of Interests

The utilitarian goal of promoting everyone’s interests is complicated by the Parfitian view that one’s self-interest across time is a matter of degree (based on psychological connectedness) rather than all-or-nothing identity. This essay introduces and explores the Time-Relative Account of Interests, which uniquely captures key intuitions about the relative misfortune of death at different stages of life. ---Outline:(00:13) Introduction: Utilitarianism and Interests(03:43) Egoistic Concern(11:49) The Misfortune of Death(17:44) The Divergent Lives Problem(27:59) The No-Difference View(36:21) Interests and Reasons(39:44) An Asymmetry Between Benefits and Harms(41:40) About the Author(42:09) Want to learn more about utilitarianism?(42:13) Guest Essays The original text contained 9 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: September 7th, 2023 Source: https://www.utilitarianism.net/guest-essays/time-relative-account-of-interests --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.