11/03/2025
REMINDER!
🔔 Less than a week from now to register for our first virtual UPJA Conference!
The conference will run on Saturday March 15th, from 10AM to roughly 2PM (AEDT) 📢
The UPJA Virtual Conference is free to attend, but requires pre-registration. If you are interested please register here: https://forms.gle/tHuQfcxixBAezvvz5
We're honoured to have Kristie Miller from the University of Sydney as our keynote speaker:
Title: Should I care about my future (and past!) selves, and if so, should I care about them as much as my current self?
Abstract:
We often say that some actions are imprudent, and that we ought not be imprudent. Often what we mean when talk of imprudence, is that our current selves are acting in ways that disadvantage our later selves. We spend now, instead of saving. We put off the unpleasant dental trip for later. We make things better for our current self, at the expense of our later (or earlier) selves. Most philosophers think this is irrational and we shouldn’t do it. But there is good evidence that most people have so-called time biased preferences. They prefer that things go better for some of their selves, compared to others. For instance, at the Centre for Time we have consistently found that people prefer that things go better for their future selves compared to their past ones. Most people prefer to have an operation that is ten times longer and more painful, as long as it was yesterday and not tomorrow. But is that rational? Is it OK to treat some of our selves better than others, just because of where in time they happen to be? I’ll consider what philosophers have had to say on this matter, in light of lots of new empirical research on what our preferences are like.
We will release a full conference schedule closer to the conference date and the zoom link will be sent on the day to all of those who register.
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions. We hope to see you there!
