Parfit finds accepting Reductionism about personal identity 'liberating and consoling': it dissolves the sense of being imprisoned in a solitary 'glass tunnel', makes the boundary between his life and others' lives less absolute, and shifts his concern away from his own future and death toward the lives of others.

By Derek Parfit, from Les raisons et les personnes

Key Arguments

  • He contrasts his former Non‑Reductionist outlook—'When I believed that my existence was a such a further fact, I seemed imprisoned in myself. My life seemed like a glass tunnel, through which I was moving faster every year, and at the end of which there was darkness.'—with his attitude after changing his view.
  • After adopting Reductionism he writes: 'When I changed my view, the walls of my glass tunnel disappeared. I now live in the open air.' suggesting a phenomenological sense of release.
  • He notes that while 'There is still a difference between my life and the lives of other people', 'the difference is less. Other people are closer.' indicating that the metaphysical deflation of the self reduces the psychological distance to others.
  • He explicitly reports a reorientation of concern: 'I am less concerned about the rest of my own life, and more concerned about the lives of others.'
  • He also says that when he believed the Non‑Reductionist View 'I also cared more about my inevitable death', strengthening the contrast with his later, less self‑centered perspective.

Source Quotes

Some may find it so. But I find it liberating, and consoling. When I believed that my existence was a such a further fact, I seemed imprisoned in myself.
But I find it liberating, and consoling. When I believed that my existence was a such a further fact, I seemed imprisoned in myself. My life seemed like a glass tunnel, through which I was moving faster every year, and at the end of which there was darkness. When I changed my view, the walls of my glass tunnel disappeared.
My life seemed like a glass tunnel, through which I was moving faster every year, and at the end of which there was darkness. When I changed my view, the walls of my glass tunnel disappeared. I now live in the open air. There is still a difference between my life and the lives of other people.
I now live in the open air. There is still a difference between my life and the lives of other people. But the difference is less. Other people are closer. I am less concerned about the rest of my own life, and more concerned about the lives of others.
Other people are closer. I am less concerned about the rest of my own life, and more concerned about the lives of others. When I believed the Non-Reductionist View, I also cared more about my inevitable death.

Key Concepts

  • But I find it liberating, and consoling.
  • When I believed that my existence was a such a further fact, I seemed imprisoned in myself. My life seemed like a glass tunnel, through which I was moving faster every year, and at the end of which there was darkness.
  • When I changed my view, the walls of my glass tunnel disappeared. I now live in the open air.
  • There is still a difference between my life and the lives of other people. But the difference is less. Other people are closer.
  • I am less concerned about the rest of my own life, and more concerned about the lives of others.

Context

Early in Section 95, Parfit gives a first‑person phenomenological report of how adopting the Reductionist View alters his sense of self and shifts his practical concerns.