Key Arguments

• He states the open problem explicitly: 'We need a new principle of beneficence. We need a principle that both solves the Non-Identity Problem and avoids the Repugnant Conclusion. We may also want this principle to explain the Asymmetry.'
• He notes that the Average principles (in both impersonal and person‑affecting forms) meet the first two desiderata: 'Both in its impersonal and in its person-affecting form, the Average Principle achieves the first two'
• This implies that while Average principles handle Non‑Identity and Repugnant Conclusion, they are at best incomplete, especially regarding the Asymmetry, and so do not represent the sought‑after Theory X.

Source Quotes

The Wide Average Principle restates in person-affecting terms the Impersonal Average Principle. We need a new principle of beneficence. We need a principle that both solves the Non-Identity Problem and avoids the Repugnant Conclusion. We may also want this principle to explain the Asymmetry.

We need a principle that both solves the Non-Identity Problem and avoids the Repugnant Conclusion. We may also want this principle to explain the Asymmetry. Both in its impersonal and in its person-affecting form, the Average Principle achieves the first two

We may also want this principle to explain the Asymmetry. Both in its impersonal and in its person-affecting form, the Average Principle achieves the first two

Key Concepts

• We need a new principle of beneficence. We need a principle that both solves the Non-Identity Problem and avoids the Repugnant Conclusion.
• We may also want this principle to explain the Asymmetry.
• Both in its impersonal and in its person-affecting form, the Average Principle achieves the first two

Context

Closing lines of Section 136, where Parfit summarizes the negative results about Total and Wide principles and re‑frames the search for a satisfactory Theory X that handles Non‑Identity, the Repugnant Conclusion, and ideally the Asymmetry.