Duties to a Future Self

In this paper, I will evaluate the notion of having duties to one’s future self. In doing so, I will discuss both ethical theories and metaethical theories. More specifically, I intend to utilize a prima facie duty-based ethical account and a psychological reductionist view of personal identity to argue that one can have duties to future selves. Relationships with our friends ground a number of objective agent-relative duties to them. I will argue that our relationships to our future selves are similar to our relationships to friends in significant ways and, as such, also ground objective agent-relative duties.