Abstract

In recent decades the focus of discussions on personal identity has shifted, largely due to the work of Derek Parfit, from the metaphysical question of what constitutes the identity of persons over time to the question of the nature of the special concern that persons have for their own future well being, including the question of whether “what matters” is identity itself, or something else, perhaps psychological continuity and connectedness, that normally goes with identity but can be present without it. Raymond Martin’s Self-Concern is, to be best of my knowledge, the first book-length treatment of the latter topic, and should be read by anyone interested in it. Although not primarily historical, its accounts of the views on this topic of such writers as Samuel Clark, Anthony Collins, Joseph Priestly, and William Hazlett will be news to most readers. And its own arguments are interesting, if not always persuasive.