Gough distinguishes between character (one’s ethical self) and personality (one’s
psychological self). He concedes that psychologists may be correct when asserting
that one’s personality changes little in life, but dismisses this fact when it comes to
ethics because one’s character is malleable. He then develops four main points (1998,
p. 10):
(1) You, like all human beings have the capacity to determine who you are or
what you want to be—or should be—over and above what you are ‘‘by nature.’’
(2) What you are in your essence has an inescapable ethical dimension. (3) You
have the innate ability to choose to be good. (4) In sum, when it comes to the kind
of person you are, you and you alone ultimately determine your own destiny.