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Updated: Nov 16, 2025

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The moral self and moral duties.

Jim A C Everett1,2, Joshua August Skorburg3, Julian Savulescu4

  • 1Department of Social and Organisational Psychology, Leiden University.

Philosophical Psychology
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PubMed
Summary

Personal identity hinges on moral character continuity, not just memory. Research shows people prioritize a person's morality over their memories when assessing identity over time.

Keywords:
Personal identityexperimental philosophymoral selfmorality

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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.