Human heritable genome editing (HHGE) involves editing the genes of human gametes and/or early human embryos. Whilst ‘identity’ is a key concept underpinning the current HHGE debate, there is a lack of inclusive analysis on different concepts of ‘identity’ which renders the overall debate confusing at times. This paper first contributes to reviewing the existing literature by consolidating how ‘identity’ has been discussed in the HHGE debate. Essentially, the discussion will reveal an ontological and empirical understanding of identity when different types of identity are involved. Here, I discuss genetic, numerical, qualitative and narrative and how each of them is relevant in the HHGE context. Secondly, given the different types of identity, the paper explores how we could navigate these different interpretations of identity in a way that promotes an inclusive and informed discussion between primary stakeholders and the general public in the HHGE debate. Here, I argue for and refine a multi-faceted concept of identity as a suitable framework for discussing the ethical and societal implications of HHGE because it not only could integrate different understandings of identity but also highlight the interconnectedness between these different understandings.

人类可遗传基因组编辑（HHGE）涉及编辑人类配子和/或早期人类胚胎的基因。虽然“身份”是支撑当前 HHGE 辩论的一个关键概念，但缺乏对“身份”不同概念的包容性分析，这使得整体辩论有时令人困惑。本文首先通过巩固 HHGE 辩论中如何讨论“身份”来回顾现有文献。本质上，当涉及不同类型的身份时，讨论将揭示对身份的本体论和经验理解。在这里，我讨论遗传、数字、定性和叙述，以及它们在 HHGE 背景下的相关性。其次，考虑到不同类型的身份，本文探讨了如何在 HHGE 辩论中促进主要利益相关者和公众之间进行包容性和知情的讨论，从而驾驭这些对身份的不同解释。在这里，我主张并完善一个多方面的身份概念，作为讨论 HHGE 的伦理和社会影响的合适框架，因为它不仅可以整合对身份的不同理解，而且可以强调这些不同理解之间的相互联系。