Academic publisher Routledge has published an online interview with Dr Simon Kirchin, Reader in Philosophy and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, about his latest book, Reading Parfit: On What Matters (Routledge, 2017).

Derek Parfit (1942-2017) was a British philosopher who specialised in identity, rationality and ethics, and who sadly died on 1 January this year. His work On What Matters was published in two volumes in 2011, and Simon’s book is a response to this.

The interview, structured into ten questions, begins by asking Simon about the first line of On What Matters [‘We are the animals that can both understand and respond to reasons.’] and also gets him to explain and enthuse about Parfit’s philosophical work.

Simon sums up the hope Parfit can offer to readers: ‘what one can learn from reading or even dipping into On What Matters is that whilst philosophy, and moral philosophy, can tackle some very deep and fundamental questions, it can also be done simply and straightforwardly.’

The full interview is available online.