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Past/future attitude asymmetries : values, preferences, and the phenomenon of relief

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Hoerl, Christoph (2022) Past/future attitude asymmetries : values, preferences, and the phenomenon of relief. In: Hoerl, Christoph and McCormack, Teresa and Fernandes, Alison, (eds.) Temporal Asymmetries in Philosophy and Psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 204-222. ISBN 9780198862901

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Abstract

An influential thought experiment by Derek Parfit sought to establish that people have a preference for unpleasant events to lie in the past rather than the future. In recent discussions of Parfit’s argument, this purported preference is modelled as a discounting phenomenon, as is the tensed emotion of relief, which Arthur Prior argued demonstrated that there is an objective metaphysical difference between the past and the future. Looking at recent work demonstrating some psychological past/future asymmetries that are more clearly instances of discounting, this chapter argues that this existing philosophical literature fails to distinguish between what are clearly two quite different psychological phenomena. This affects recent attempts to respond to Prior’s metaphysical argument, because it is not clear that they have identified the right phenomenon to be explained. It also affects Parfit’s thought experiment, because the purported unitary ‘preference’ may in fact be an amalgam of these two quite different psychological phenomena.

Item Type: Book Item
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
Divisions: Faculty of Social Sciences > Philosophy
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): Time perspective, Time -- Psychological aspects, Attitude (Psychology), Parfit, Derek, Values
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Place of Publication: Oxford
ISBN: 9780198862901
Book Title: Temporal Asymmetries in Philosophy and Psychology
Editor: Hoerl, Christoph and McCormack, Teresa and Fernandes, Alison
Official Date: 2022
Dates:
DateEvent
2022Published
March 2022Available
1 December 2021Accepted
Page Range: pp. 204-222
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198862901.003.0009
Status: Peer Reviewed
Publication Status: Published
Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights): This material was originally published in Temporal Asymmetries in Philosophy and Psychology edited by Christoph Hoerl, Teresa McCormack, and Alison Fernandes, and has been reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press https://global.oup.com/academic/product/temporal-asymmetries-in-philosophy-and-psychology-9780198862901?facet_narrowbypubdate_facet=Last%203%20months&lang=en&cc=be. For permission to reuse this material, please visit http://global.oup.com/academic/rights.
Access rights to Published version: Restricted or Subscription Access
Date of first compliant deposit: 1 June 2022

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