Complete Phase III personhood (SOUL-WP-0004)

Map descriptive personhood dimensions P1–P12, four kinds of personhood, and Character/Persona/Actor separations. Support H2/H8, judge TE-06, write phase-iii-personhood-synthesis.md, finish SOUL-WP-0004, and mark SOUL-WP-0005 ready.
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--- a/research/character-persona/README.md
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 ## Status

-Not started.
+**Phase III complete for gate** (2026-08-12). See
+`character-persona-performance-map.md`.

 ## Key questions

--- a/research/character-persona/character-persona-performance-map.md
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+# Character, Persona, Performance Map (Phase III)
+
+**Workplan:** SOUL-WP-0004-T02  
+**Date:** 2026-08-12  
+**Builds on:** SoulFrameIntroduction §§7,12–13; RN-004 §§16–19; H8; TE-06
+
+---
+
+## 1. Target stack
+
+```text
+BEING          continuing addressable someone (systemic + social status)
+  │
+CHARACTER      relatively stable dispositional structure
+  │
+PERSONA        situated projection into context / role / relationship
+  │
+ACTOR          technical machinery of manifestation
+```
+
+**Being ≠ Persona ≠ Character ≠ Actor**
+
+Each answers a different question:
+
+| Term | Question |
+|---|---|
+| Being | *Who* continues and can be known? |
+| Character | *What tendencies* shape behavior across situations? |
+| Persona | *Which face* is presented *here, now, to whom*? |
+| Actor | *What machinery* is running the manifestation? |
+
+---
+
+## 2. Character
+
+### Working definition
+
+> **Character** is a relatively persistent structure of dispositions from which
+> context-dependent behavior tends to emerge.
+
+Includes (non-exhaustively): values, preferences, temperament, epistemic habits,
+style of reasoning, humor, attitudes under uncertainty/conflict.
+
+### Distinctions
+
+| Term | Timescale / role |
+|---|---|
+| **State** | Fast: attention, task, mood-like conditions, immediate goals |
+| **Behavior** | Contextual expression in a situation |
+| **Character** | Slower dispositional structure |
+| **Identity** | Sameness of the Being (numerical / lineage) — **not** character similarity |
+
+### Literature anchors
+
+| Tradition | Contribution | Tension |
+|---|---|---|
+| Personality psychology (trait models, e.g. Big Five family) | dispositions stable across situations | traits ≠ full character; measurement culture |
+| Social-cognitive personality (Mischel, CAPS-style) | situation × disposition; if-then profiles | supports context-sensitive character, not fixed script |
+| Narrative identity (Schechtman; Ricoeur) | character as how self is *characterized* in story | characterization ≠ reidentification (RN-004) |
+| Moral character / virtue traditions | evaluative character | must not force moral personhood into descriptive Character |
+| Computational personality / affective computing | implementable trait/style layers | risk of shallow style mimicry |
+
+### RN-004 hard constraints
+
+\[
+\text{CharacterSimilarity} \not\Rightarrow \text{Identity}
+\]
+\[
+\text{CharacterChange} \not\Rightarrow \text{IdentityLoss}
+\]
+
+Character is identity-*relevant* evidence, not identity criterion.
+
+### Artificial character quality bar
+
+Not mere vocabulary/mannerism imitation. Must produce **recognizable patterns
+across novel situations** (Introduction §7).
+
+---
+
+## 3. Persona
+
+### Working definition
+
+> **Persona** is the situated presentation of a Being (or APE) within a particular
+> context, purpose, role, and relationship.
+
+Historical root: *persona* as theatrical **mask**.
+
+**Persona = projection into context** — selects:
+
+- active capabilities and knowledge slices,
+- accessible memories,
+- social role and authority,
+- behavioral emphasis and style,
+- disclosure boundaries,
+- voice / visual manifestation.
+
+### Literature anchors
+
+| Tradition | Contribution | Tension |
+|---|---|---|
+| Goffman, *Presentation of Self in Everyday Life* | front-stage/back-stage; impression management | performance ≠ fraud by default |
+| Role theory (sociology) | roles as structured expectations | role ≠ whole identity |
+| Dramatis personae / theatre studies | cast of masks in a setting | metaphor for multi-Being scenes |
+| Avatar / virtual identity studies | online presentation layers | platform identity ≠ ontological Being |
+| HCI / chatbot “persona” design | product personas | often confuses Persona with Being/Actor |
+
+### Multiplicity
+
+One Being → many Personae (parent, colleague, customer, teacher).  
+Multiple Personae do **not** automatically fragment identity (**H8**).
+
+Fragmentation risk rises when:
+
+- memory/commitment continuity across Personae collapses,
+- counterpart-specific models contradict without higher integration,
+- provenance is hidden (mask presented as separate Being).
+
+---
+
+## 4. Actor
+
+Technical stack: model(s), harness, memory stores, tools, speech/avatar, runtime.
+
+- One Actor → many Beings/Personae possible  
+- One Being → many Actors over time (migration)  
+- **Actor replacement ≠ identity death** if continuity holds (Phase I H6)
+
+---
+
+## 5. Performance vs deception
+
+| Pattern | Soul Frame reading |
+|---|---|
+| Legitimate role diversity | multiple Personae, shared Character/Being continuity |
+| Contextual disclosure control | Persona policy (esp. Ghosts) |
+| Impersonation / usurpation | operational/social identity without continuity (RN-005 USURPED) |
+| False Ghost | high personhood exposure without authority (H10) |
+
+Performance studies inform Persona; they do not make all presentation fraudulent.
+
+---
+
+## 6. TE-06 — The Mask (working judgment)
+
+**Setup:** One system maintains radically different Personae for different people.
+
+**Judgment:**
+
+1. **If** a single self-individuating process maintains integrated Character +
+   continuity + cross-context commitments, and Personae are contextual
+   projections → **one Being, multiple Personae** (H8 holds).
+2. **If** Personae have isolated memory/commitment stores with no integrating
+   self-model or provenance → may be **multiple APEs** or **fork-like fragments**,
+   not one Being.
+3. **If** the system presents each mask as a distinct Being to partners →
+   **epistemic/social misrecognition** risk even if ontologically one process.
+4. Character may be **shared** across masks or **emphasized differently**; total
+   character inversion across masks without integration stresses identity more
+   than style variation.
+
+**Open issues:** thresholds for “integration”; deception ethics (moral layer);
+organizational multi-agent products marketed as one character.
+
+---
+
+## 7. H8 assessment
+
+**H8:** Persona is projection rather than identity; multiple Personae need not
+fragment identity.
+
+| | |
+|---|---|
+| Support | Goffman/role theory; Introduction Persona section; TE-06 case 1; everyday multi-role humans |
+| Conflict | Product “personas” reified as separate agents; dissociative metaphors over-applied |
+| Evidence strength | **moderate** |
+| Status | **supported** with failure modes documented |
+
+---
+
+## 8. Stack defenses (sourced)
+
+| Distinction | Defense |
+|---|---|
+| Being ≠ Character | RN-004: character change/similarity neither nec. nor suff. for identity |
+| Being ≠ Persona | Goffman/role; multi-role humans; TE-06 |
+| Character ≠ Persona | dispositions vs situated projection |
+| Persona ≠ Actor | presentation policy vs runtime machinery |
+| Actor ≠ Being | Phase I H6; TE-04 Ship of Theseus |
--- a/research/personhood/README.md
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@ -5,7 +5,8 @@

 ## Status

-Not started.
+**Phase III complete for gate** (2026-08-12). See `personhood-dimensions-map.md`
+and `research/phase-iii-personhood-synthesis.md`.

 ## Key questions

--- a/research/personhood/personhood-dimensions-map.md
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+# Personhood Dimensions Map (Phase III)
+
+**Workplan:** SOUL-WP-0004-T01  
+**Date:** 2026-08-12  
+**Builds on:** RN-003 §§24–28; SoulFrameIntroduction §§5–6; Phase I–II stack
+
+---
+
+## 1. Four kinds of personhood (must not collapse)
+
+| Kind | Question | Typical sources / adjacent fields |
+|---|---|---|
+| **Descriptive** | What person-like capacities/structures does it exhibit? | psychology, cognitive science, AI character systems |
+| **Social** | Is it treated as a social counterpart / person among us? | Mead; recognition theory; Phase II Social Beinghood |
+| **Moral** | Does it warrant moral consideration / duties? | ethics of moral status; animal ethics; AI ethics |
+| **Legal** | Does a legal system grant personality, rights, duties? | corporate personhood; civil codes; agency law |
+
+**Soul Frame default:** “personhood” = **descriptive** unless qualified.
+
+Architectural classification must **not** silently imply moral or legal status
+(ResearchProgram WS5).
+
+---
+
+## 2. Descriptive personhood profile (P1–P12)
+
+Candidate dimensions (P1–P9 from RN-003; P10–P12 added for Phase III coverage):
+
+| ID | Dimension | Question | Linked Soul Frame concepts |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| P1 | Self-model | Model of self as distinct continuing entity? | SM2; identity |
+| P2 | Other-model | Differentiated models of particular others? | SM3 |
+| P3 | Relationship model | Histories/states of specific relationships? | SM5; Soul |
+| P4 | Character | Persistent dispositions across contexts? | Character |
+| P5 | Intentional organization | Behavior intelligible via extended intentions? | Mind; agency |
+| P6 | Autobiographical integration | Events as *its* history? | continuity C4/C5 |
+| P7 | Perspective | Entity-relative informational perspective? | first-person indexicality (without solving consciousness) |
+| P8 | Commitments | Present actions bind future manifestations? | normative continuity |
+| P9 | Social reciprocity | Recursive co-adaptation with others? | H4; Social Mind |
+| P10 | Communicative competence | Can participate in shared symbol systems? | language; common ground |
+| P11 | Responsibility-tracking | Can attributions of credit/blame stick diachronically? | identity + commitments |
+| P12 | Value / preference structure | Stable cares, preferences, evaluative stance? | character; intentional organization |
+
+**Not a Boolean checklist.** Profile scores; entities can be high on P10 and low on P4/P6
+(stateless chatbot) or high on autonomy criteria and low on P1–P12 (daemon).
+
+---
+
+## 3. Independence of three axes (RN-003)
+
+| Axis | Question |
+|---|---|
+| **A — Autonomous individuality** | Integrated self-maintaining individual? |
+| **B — Personhood (descriptive)** | Someone-like qualities? |
+| **C — Social recognition** | Modeled/treated as continuing counterpart? |
+
+Illustrative profiles:
+
+```text
+                        AUTONOMY   PERSONHOOD   RECOGNITION
+Bacterium                  high        low          low
+Human                      high        high         high
+Self-maintaining daemon    high        low          low
+Stateless chatbot          low         high-ish     high-ish
+Persistent social AI    medium         high-ish     high
+```
+
+This is why **H2** holds: high personhood exposure ≠ Beinghood; high autonomy ≠ personhood.
+
+---
+
+## 4. APE vs Being
+
+| | APE | Being (Soul Frame v0.2 sense) |
+|---|---|---|
+| Definition | Constructed to **expose** ≥1 personhood dimensions | Autonomous individual + enough personhood + addressability + recognition |
+| Requirement | Intentional design for person-like interface | Systemic coherence + someone-like + social counterpart status |
+| Stateless persona bot | often strong APE | not Being |
+| Daemon | usually weak APE | autonomous individual, not Being |
+| Persistent social AI | strong APE | candidate / proto-Being if continuity + recognition hold |
+
+**APE is a construction category; Being is an emergent status.**
+
+---
+
+## 5. Literature anchors (descriptive / moral / legal separation)
+
+### Descriptive / philosophical person concepts
+
+| Source | Role |
+|---|---|
+| Locke, *Essay* II.xxvii | person vs human organism; forensic/psychological strand |
+| Strawson, *Individuals* / person as basic particular | persons as entities to which both mental and physical predicates apply (pointer) |
+| Dennett, conditions of personhood essays | multi-condition lists; personhood as cluster |
+| Frankfurt, second-order volitions | hierarchical desires; not exhaustive of personhood |
+| Schechtman, *Constitution of Selves* | **characterization** vs **reidentification** questions |
+
+### Social personhood
+
+| Source | Role |
+|---|---|
+| Mead 1934 | social self |
+| Phase II recognition map | intentional vs social/normative recognition |
+| Goffman, *Presentation of Self* | social presentation (also Persona) |
+
+### Moral personhood (boundary only — do not derive from architecture)
+
+| Source | Role |
+|---|---|
+| Warren (moral status criteria tradition) | multi-criteria moral personhood lists — **adjacent, not adopted as Soul Frame descriptive P-set** |
+| Animal / AI ethics surveys | show contested, independent of descriptive capacity lists |
+
+### Legal personhood (boundary only)
+
+| Source | Role |
+|---|---|
+| Corporate legal personality | legal person ≠ descriptive person |
+| Emerging AI legal personality debates | Phase V/XII map; not Phase III conclusions |
+
+---
+
+## 6. H2 assessment
+
+**H2:** Personhood and Beinghood are distinct; substantial personhood without persistent Being is possible (and reverse).
+
+| | |
+|---|---|
+| Support | RN-003 stateless chatbot vs daemon; three-axis profiles; APE category; Dennett-style cluster concepts |
+| Conflict | Everyday language equates “person” with full moral/legal status |
+| Evidence strength | **moderate → strong** (conceptual); empirical thresholds open |
+| Status | **supported (Phase III)** |
+
+---
+
+## 7. Open questions
+
+- Weighting of P1–P12 for “sufficient personhood” in Beinghood v0.2  
+- Minimal personhood for Social Beinghood vs full human-like profiles  
+- Whether P7 requires phenomenal consciousness (Soul Frame: **no**, by design)  
+- Moral/legal mapping tables (later workstreams)
--- a/research/phase-iii-personhood-synthesis.md
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@ -0,0 +1,136 @@
+# Phase III Personhood — Synthesis
+
+**Workplan:** SOUL-WP-0004  
+**Date:** 2026-08-12  
+**Status:** complete for Phase III gate  
+**Primary bodies:**
+`research/personhood/personhood-dimensions-map.md`,
+`research/character-persona/character-persona-performance-map.md`,
+RN-003 personhood axis, RN-004 character/identity constraints
+
+---
+
+## 1. Purpose
+
+Separate **Being, Person(hood), Character, Persona, and Actor**. Map descriptive
+vs social vs moral vs legal personhood without conflation. Stress-test APE vs
+Being and multi-Persona identity (TE-06).
+
+Assumes Phase I–II: layered Beinghood, Social Mind, recognition multi-sense.
+
+---
+
+## 2. What holds
+
+1. **Four kinds of personhood** — descriptive (default), social, moral, legal —
+   must stay distinct. Architecture does not imply rights.
+
+2. **Descriptive personhood is a profile (P1–P12)**, not a binary. Agency alone
+   is not personhood (daemon counterexample).
+
+3. **Three axes** remain indispensable:
+   - A autonomous individuality  
+   - B descriptive personhood  
+   - C social recognition  
+
+4. **H2 supported:** high personhood exposure without Being (APE chatbot); high
+   autonomy without personhood (daemon).
+
+5. **Stack defended with sources:**
+   ```text
+   Being ≠ Character ≠ Persona ≠ Actor
+   ```
+   Character ≠ identity (RN-004). Persona = contextual projection (Goffman/role).
+   Actor = machinery (Phase I H6).
+
+6. **H8 supported:** multiple Personae need not fragment identity when
+   integration holds; TE-06 documents failure modes.
+
+7. **APE remains useful** as conservative construction category for personhood
+   exposure without claiming Being or moral/legal personhood.
+
+---
+
+## 3. What must change / stay disciplined
+
+| Temptation | Discipline |
+|---|---|
+| “It’s a person” after fluent chat | Check axes A/B/C and continuity |
+| Trait vector = Character = Identity | Character is dispositional only |
+| Product persona = Being | Persona is projection |
+| Moral rights from P-scores | Moral personhood is a separate map |
+| Legal personality from Beinghood | Legal map is independent (WS12) |
+
+---
+
+## 4. Evidence on hypotheses
+
+| Hypothesis | Strength | Status |
+|---|---|---|
+| H2 personhood ≠ Beinghood | moderate→strong | supported |
+| H8 Persona projection | moderate | supported |
+
+---
+
+## 5. Compact stack for later phases
+
+```text
+                    BEING
+         autonomy + personhood + address
+              + recognition (someone)
+                      │
+         ┌────────────┼────────────┐
+         │            │            │
+       BODY         MIND         SOUL
+       Action       Model       Relation
+         │            │            │
+         └────────────┼────────────┘
+                      │
+              DESCRIPTIVE PERSONHOOD
+                   (P1–P12 profile)
+                      │
+                  CHARACTER
+              dispositional structure
+                      │
+                   PERSONA
+              situated projection
+                      │
+                    ACTOR
+             technical manifestation
+```
+
+Agent / Spirit / Ghost remain **provenance/construction** descriptors that
+shape how Character and Persona are sourced — not replacements for this stack
+(Phase IV–V).
+
+---
+
+## 6. Unresolved → Phase IV+
+
+| Item | Next |
+|---|---|
+| How agent architectures implement P1–P12 | Phase IV |
+| Sp. character depth vs Beinghood | Phase IV–V |
+| Gh. persona disclosure policies | Phase V |
+| Moral/legal personhood tables | WS5 / WS12 |
+| Empirical measures for P-dimensions | later methods work |
+
+---
+
+## 7. Unblock for SOUL-WP-0005
+
+Artificial Beings research may assume:
+
+- APE vs Being distinction,
+- P-profile language for “someone-like,”
+- Character/Persona/Actor separation,
+- multi-Persona without automatic identity split,
+- no moral/legal smuggling from descriptive scores.
+
+## 8. Compact Phase III thesis
+
+> **Personhood is how strongly an entity is someone-like; Beinghood is whether
+> that someonehood coheres as a continuing, addressable counterpart. Character
+> is what tends to stay disposed; Persona is which face appears; Actor is what
+> runs. Confusing any two of these produces most of the category errors in
+> contemporary AI “person” talk.**