If Charlie’s depression is that central to his ‘self’, then taking such a pill amounts to suicide. The existence of a post-pill alternate Charlie shouldn’t matter; it won’t be him.
The parallelism between Gandhi and Charlie here is poor because Gandhi has strong, externally directed terminal values, and Charlie doesn’t. You could strengthen the problem by making Charlie a passionately committed negative utilitarian like Sister Y.
If Charlie’s depression is that central to his ‘self’, then taking such a pill amounts to suicide. The existence of a post-pill alternate Charlie shouldn’t matter; it won’t be him.
The parallelism between Gandhi and Charlie here is poor because Gandhi has strong, externally directed terminal values, and Charlie doesn’t. You could strengthen the problem by making Charlie a passionately committed negative utilitarian like Sister Y.