
Contents
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1. Prudence and Temporal Neutrality 1. Prudence and Temporal Neutrality
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2. Compensation and the Rationale for Temporal Neutrality 2. Compensation and the Rationale for Temporal Neutrality
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3. Rationalizing the Hybrid Structure of Prudence 3. Rationalizing the Hybrid Structure of Prudence
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4. Personal Identity and Temporal Neutrality 4. Personal Identity and Temporal Neutrality
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5. Intrapersonal Conflicts of Value 5. Intrapersonal Conflicts of Value
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6. The Symmetry Argument 6. The Symmetry Argument
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7. Minimizing Future Suffering 7. Minimizing Future Suffering
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8. Concluding Remarks 8. Concluding Remarks
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References References
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11 Prospects for Temporal Neutrality
Get accessDavid O. Brink (Cornell PhD, 1984) is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, San Diego. His research interests are in ethical theory, history of ethics, moral psychology, political philosophy, and jurisprudence. He is the author of Moral Realism and the Foundations of Ethics (Cambridge 1989), Perfectionism and the Common Good: Themes in the Philosophy of T.H. Green (Oxford 2003), Mill’s Progressive Principles (Oxford 2013), and Fair Opportunity and Responsibility (Oxford 2021); the editor of T.H. Green’s Prolegomena to Ethics (Oxford 2003); and a co-editor of Virtue, Happiness, and Knowledge: Themes from the Work of Gail Fine and Terence Irwin (Oxford 2018).
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Published:02 September 2011
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Abstract
The temporal locations of benefits and harms matter to us. People prefer past pain to future pain, even when this choice includes more total pain. But should the location of benefits and harms matter to us, all else being equal? This question is an ethical one. This chapter deals with defending temporal neutrality, the thesis that agents should attach no normative significance to the temporal location of benefits and harms, all else being equal. A powerful argument for temporal neutrality comes from prudence. However, prudence also assigns normative significance only to benefits and harms that occur to oneself, not other agents. It also suggests that the fact that one is later compensated for present sacrifice is crucial to assigning equal importance to all parts of an agent's life, but not equally to all agents.
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