PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Derek Parfit

Derek Parfit was an Oxford moral philosopher whose work appears in a 2020 discussion of machine-learning fairness. He studied modern history at Balliol College and joined All Souls College as a philosophy fellow in 1967. His books Reasons and Persons and On What Matters examine rationality, personal identity, moral theories and future generations. He served as a senior research fellow at All Souls and held visiting posts at Harvard, NYU and Rutgers. He received a British Academy fellowship and the Rolf Schock Prize in logic and philosophy, and died in 2017.

Works
177
Citations
13,706
h-index
35
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1961–1967

    From Balliol to All Souls

    From 1961 to 1964, he studies modern history at Balliol College, Oxford. A Harkness fellowship takes him to Columbia and Harvard; in 1967, he joins All Souls College as a prize fellow and turns from history to philosophy.

  2. 1971

    The Personal Identity paper

    In 1971, Parfit publishes his first article, “Personal Identity,” arguing that continued existence depends on relations among mental states over time and that psychological ties explain special concern for future selves.

  3. 1984

    Reasons and Persons

    In Reasons and Persons, published in 1984, he examines moral theories, rationality and time, personal identity, and duties to future generations.

  4. 1984–2017

    All Souls and visiting posts

    From 1984 to 2010, Parfit serves as a senior research fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. He retains regular visiting professorships at Harvard, NYU and Rutgers until his death in 2017.

  5. 1986

    A British Academy fellowship

    The British Academy elects him a fellow in 1986.

  6. 2011

    On What Matters

    In 2011, Parfit publishes On What Matters, a two-volume book about reasons, value and morality.

  7. 2014

    The Rolf Schock Prize

    In 2014, the Rolf Schock Prize in logic and philosophy goes to Parfit for work on personal identity, future generations and moral theory.

  8. 2017–2020

    A posthumous AI citation

    Parfit dies in 2017. A 2020 article on fairness in machine learning places him among philosophers whose work refined consequentialism.

Career

  1. 1993–1997University of Oxford
  2. 1984–2017Harvard UniversityVisiting professor
  3. 1984–2017New York UniversityVisiting professor
  4. 1984–2017Rutgers UniversityVisiting professor
  5. 1967–2010All Souls CollegePrize Fellow, Senior research fellow

Education

  1. 1964Balliol CollegeModern history

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. 11. Reasons and Persons1986 · Princeton University Press eBooks · 5,775 citations
  2. Equality and Priority1997 · Ratio · 864 citations
  3. On What Matters2011 · 769 citations
  4. Personal Identity1971 · The Philosophical Review · 762 citations
  5. Reasons and Persons1986 · Philosophy and Phenomenological Research · 467 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Harvard University. Our estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.
  2. Stanford University trained or employed 20 of the 89 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Harvard University. Stanford University trained or employed 20 of the 89 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and employment links for major-prize and best-paper winners.
  3. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes New York University. Our estimates of combined and median h-index at AI organizations, using current affiliations and OpenAlex records.
  4. 44% of AI career moves go from one university to anotherIncludes Harvard University. We estimate how 14,272 AI career moves link universities, companies, labs and government research centers, with net flows and the most common paths.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Derek Parfit yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Derek Parfit obituary | Philosophy | The Guardian theguardian.com. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. Derek Parfit (1942-2017) | Issue 119 | Philosophy Now philosophynow.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. On What Matters, Volumes 1 and 2 | Reviews | Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews | University of Notre Dame ndpr.nd.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. The Rolf Schock Prizes 2014: Rolf Schock – uniting philosophy, mathematics, music and art kva.se. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. On Consequentialism and Fairness | Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence frontiersin.org. Checked 19 October 2026.