Towards a Human Right to Psychological Continuity? Reflections on the Rights to Personal Identity, Self-Determination, and Personal Integrity

Abstract

Scholars from different disciplines are increasingly debating how human rights should protect the autonomy not only over our bodies but also over our minds. These debates are often driven by emerging technologies that appear able to access, monitor, and manipulate mental states in ways that were previously inconceivable. Whereas some human rights already protect certain personal interests in the mental realm, such as the right to freedom of thought, it has been argued that new or updated human rights are necessary to offer adequate protection against modern technologies that may threaten our mental privacy, personal integrity, and identity. One of the proposed rights, which is under consideration by the Council of Europe and the UN Human Rights Council, concerns a right to ‘psychological continuity’. This paper challenges the necessity of recognising such a right, arguing that the notion of psychological continuity already receives considerable protection within the established framework of human rights law.