Existing Solutions I: The Unchanging Utility Solution

In this chapter, we meet the first of the existing putative solutions to the problem of choosing for changing selves. This is the Unchanging Utility Solution and it claims that, contrary to appearances, our values do not change over time; rather, what changes is what obtains for us the things we value. The chapter argues that this will not work. It considers two objections: first, in many cases, it is not possible to identify what it is that remains constant over time when an individual’s values seems to change; second, on the most plausible response to the first objection, the putative solution gives the wrong verdict in a large range of cases.