Moral Choices for Our Future Selves: An Empirical Theory of Prudential Perception and a Moral Theory of Prudence(Routledge Focus on Philosophy)

This book investigates the relationship between our present and future selves. It focuses specifically on diachronic self-regarding decisions: choices involving our earlier and later selves, in which the earlier self makes a decision for the later self. The author connects the scientific understanding of the neurobehavioral processes at the core of individuals’ perceptions of their future selves with the philosophical reflection on individuals’ moral relationship with their future selves. She delineates a descriptive theory of the perception of the future self that is based on empirical evidence and that systematizes and integrates the current theoretical literature. She then argues for the morality of prudence and interprets diachronic self-regarding decisions as decisions between two agents— the earlier and later selves—that belong to the realm of intergenerational ethics, which regulates the relationship between contemporary people and future generations. Finally, the author provides a moral theory of prudence based on respect for one’s agency. This theory identifies what the present and the future selves owe to one another in diachronic self-regarding decisions. Moral Choices for Our Future Selves will be of interest to scholars and students working in ethics, moral psychology, philosophy of mind, and cognitive science.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Chapter 1. How do we perceive our future selves? The neurobehavioral basis of one’s perception of the future self Chapter 2. What is the nature of the relationship in which we stand with our future selves? Practical and moral issues of one’s perception of the future self Chapter 3. How should we treat our future selves? The moral requirements of prudence to one’s present and future selves Chapter 4. How does the Moral Theory of Prudence work in practice? The application of the theory to advance healthcare directives in dementia Conclusion

About the Author :
Eleonora Viganò is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Her work focuses on self-regarding morality, the neuroscience of ethics, and digital ethics.

Review :
"In this innovative and wide-reaching work, Eleonora Viganò presents a new theory of how people think about and interact with their future selves. Far from a simple matter of self-control, Viganò shows us how our intertemporal trade-offs have a potent moral dimension. This book inspires a new view of selfhood and has considerable implications for the way we act in the present with our future in mind." – Adam Bulley, Harvard University and the University of Sydney