ABSTRACT
In On What Matters Derek Parfit endorses Scanlon's buck-passing account of value (BPA). BPA consists of a positive and a negative thesis. According to BPA to be good is roughly to have properties that give everyone reason to have a pro-attitude towards the thing that has those properties. Parfit denies that BPA implies the negative thesis. Parfit tries to avoid the apparent oddity of denying that goodness, analysed in buck-passing terms, is reason-providing by claiming that the reason it provides is derivative and consequently does not add weight to the reasons from which it is derived. Parfit claims three things about the reason provided by goodness, which is distinguished as: goodness is a dependent reason, goodness is a derivative reason and goodness is a non-additive reason. The cases that Parfit thinks cast doubt on additivity involve derivative reasons - the sort of reason that is provided by goodness if the buck-passing account of value is true.
