Overview

This volume brings together, for the first time, perspectives from philosophy and psychology to investigate the role of autobiographical memory in moral agency. Autobiographical memory is the ability to recollect events in one’s past as part of one’s personal history. Moral agency is the ability to make moral judgements, act morally and have a conception of the good life. Although a number of philosophers and psychologists have drawn attention to the role of autobiographical memory in moral agency, there is no sustained project that brings together these different lines of inquiry into a unified research area. The aim of this volume is to answer this need by bringing together leading voices in research in autobiographical memory and moral agency from both philosophy and psychology to provide a unified framework for a new interdisciplinary research area. Key areas of research explored in this volume include temporal perspectives, moral identity, autobiographical narrative, joint reminiscing, the internalisation of moral value, attachments, and amnesia. Autobiographical Memory and Moral Agency will appeal to researchers and advanced students in philosophy of mind, moral philosophy, philosophy of education, developmental psychology, and educational psychology who are interested in the role of memory in moral psychology and moral development.

Full Product Details

Author:   Daniel Vanello (University College London, UK)
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   0.453kg
ISBN:  

9781032644202

ISBN 10:   1032644206
Pages:   356
Publication Date:   27 October 2025
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Introduction: Autobiographical Memory and Moral Agency 1. Perspectives on Past and Future Perspectives 2. The Integrity of Moral Witnesses: Understanding Evil Through Autobiographical Memory 3. Moral Agency and Responsibility in Autobiographical Remembering 4. Embrace the Glorious Mess that You Are: Autobiographical Memory, Agency, and a Diachronic Sense of Self 5. Regret and Episodic Memory 6. Narrating Moral Identity as a Quest: A Necessary Feature of Human Agency? 7. Constructing Moral Agency Through Autobiographical Narration 8. The Moral Dimensions of Narrative Identity 9. Autobiographical Memory in Narratives of Alcoholism and Recovery 10. Ethics and Morality in Autobiographical Narrating: How Do Judgments of Moral Rightness and Ideas of a Good Life Show in Brief Entire Life Narratives? 11. Episodic Memory, Memories, and the Pleasure of Remembering 12. The Value of Family Storytelling 13. Constructing Moral Beliefs about Self and Others in the Context of Morally Laden Parent-child Discourse 14. Auld Acquaintance: Remembering People and Ethics

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Author Information

Daniel Vanello is Lecturer in Philosophy of Education at IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society. His areas of expertise are philosophy of mind and psychology, and ethics. Recent publications include “Moral Understanding, Affect, and the Imagination” in Inquiry and “Autobiographical Memory and Moral Identity Development” in Journal of Consciousness Studies.

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