Hume Paper David Hume presents two important theories on moral responsibility and personal identity. In his theory of moral responsibility, he states that sometimes people are responsible for their actions and sometimes they are not; it depends if their actions are caused by a person’s character. In his theory of personal identity, he argues that the idea of self does not persist over time, therefore someone cannot be held responsible for their past actions since they are always changing. While these theories may look like they are incompatible, they are compatible. Hume’s theory of moral responsibility would look something like this: if it just to hold a person responsible for an action, the action must proceed from something constant in
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Therefore, the idea of a persisting self is derived from impressions. But, no impression is a persisting thing as it is not continued constantly and invariably throughout our life. Therefore, there is no idea of self. His identity theory connects to moral responsibility because if we have a certain identity, we possess the same set of properties or same bundle of impressions. If we are always changing, then this bundle is always changing. We are always changing, so this bundle is always changing. Therefore, if our bundle is different, our identity is different from one moment to the next. If our identity is different from one moment to the next, then we cannot be held morally responsible because the person who is being held responsible is not the same person who is actually responsible. These two theories appear to be incompatible, but they are compatible. The theory of moral responsibility says we are responsible only if our actions are caused by something in our character. The theory of personal identity says our character is always changing, so our past actions do proceed from our current character. Therefore, our past actions do not proceed from our current character, so actions are not caused, and we cannot be held
Therefore, the idea of a persisting self is derived from impressions. But, no impression is a persisting thing as it is not continued constantly and invariably throughout our life. Therefore, there is no idea of self. His identity theory connects to moral responsibility because if we have a certain identity, we possess the same set of properties or same bundle of impressions. If we are always changing, then this bundle is always changing. We are always changing, so this bundle is always changing. Therefore, if our bundle is different, our identity is different from one moment to the next. If our identity is different from one moment to the next, then we cannot be held morally responsible because the person who is being held responsible is not the same person who is actually responsible. These two theories appear to be incompatible, but they are compatible. The theory of moral responsibility says we are responsible only if our actions are caused by something in our character. The theory of personal identity says our character is always changing, so our past actions do proceed from our current character. Therefore, our past actions do not proceed from our current character, so actions are not caused, and we cannot be held