1 - Old Age and the Preference for the Future

Summary

As one becomes older, an increasing proportion of one’s life is in the past. Yet, as Derek Parfit has noted, we have a 'bias towards the future' in that we care more about our future life than we do about our past. Yet our past life does matter to us in various ways. Although, as we become older, our past pleasures provide little solace for our ever-diminishing future prospects, other aspects of our past life may well provide not only consolation but compensation. This seems particularly true of our past accomplishments. We might, for example, rationally prefer to have greater achievements in our past even at the cost of having less pleasure in the future. If true, this could have implications for how we ought to live, particularly in early adulthood and middle age.