The moral self and moral duties

Area of Science:

• Philosophy of Mind
• Cognitive Psychology
• Moral Psychology

Background:

• Philosophical debates on personal identity traditionally emphasize psychological continuity, particularly memory.
• Recent empirical research suggests moral character persistence is perceived as more crucial for personal identity than memories.
• A critique questions whether this research conflates personal identity with mere similarity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To empirically investigate the role of moral character and memory in perceived personal identity.
• To address criticisms that existing research conflates personal identity with similarity.
• To examine how changes in morality or memory affect perceptions of identity and moral duties.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a classic "body switch" thought experiment to manipulate scenarios of identity change.
• Assessed participants' perceptions of identity persistence following hypothetical changes in morality and memory.
• Presented moral dilemmas to gauge perceived moral duties toward individuals experiencing identity shifts (Studies 1 & 2).

Main Results:

• Loss of moral character significantly impacted perceptions of identity change.
• Continuity of moral character was highlighted as a key factor in lay intuitions about personal identity.
• Results suggest that perceived personal identity is closely linked to moral continuity, not solely similarity.

Conclusions:

• Findings underscore the critical role of moral character continuity in folk concepts of personal identity.
• Empirical evidence supports the salience of morality over memory in judgments of personal persistence.
• The study provides support for the idea that laypeople distinguish personal identity from mere similarity based on moral factors.