---
id: SOUL-WP-0009
type: workplan
title: "Phase VIII — Paper research agenda and external review pathway"
domain: agents
repo: soul-frame
status: proposed
flavor: research
owner: grok
topic_slug: soul-frame
priority: medium
created: "2026-09-28"
updated: "2026-09-28"
depends_on:
  - SOUL-WP-0008
---

# SOUL-WP-0009 — Phase VIII: Research Agenda and External Review

## Goal

Carry forward the open research agenda from the frozen paper draft
(`history/260928-SOUL-WP-0008-paper-freeze-v1.md` §17; `paper/draft.md` §16–17)
and decide the publication/external-review pathway. This workplan is the
residual of SOUL-WP-0008 — the freeze candidate is a stable snapshot, not a
finished paper, and the items below are multi-step research/decision work
that should not be parked in `SCOPE.md` prose.

## Depends on

- **SOUL-WP-0008** Phase VII paper (freeze candidate: T01–T04 done, 2026-09-28)

## Tasks

### T01 — Soul naming decision (RQ4)

```task
id: SOUL-WP-0009-T01
status: todo
priority: medium
```

Resolve retain-vs-rename for "Soul" (Terminology.md; draft §8, §16.1). Produce
a decision record, not just more discussion — this has been open since
Phase I.

**Done when:** decision recorded (`record_decision`/`resolve_decision`) with
rationale, and `Terminology.md` + `paper/draft.md` updated to match.

---

### T02 — Continuity dimension weighting

```task
id: SOUL-WP-0009-T02
status: todo
priority: medium
```

Develop a principled way to weigh conflicts between continuity dimensions
(causal, organizational, psychological, autobiographical/narrative,
normative, relational) for hard cases (draft §16.2). Test against TE-02,
TE-03, TE-04, TE-08.

**Done when:** a weighting scheme (or explicit non-arithmetic decision
procedure) is documented in `concepts/identity.md` and validated against the
four thought experiments above.

---

### T03 — Recognition's seat: Being vs. Social Being

```task
id: SOUL-WP-0009-T03
status: todo
priority: low
```

Sharpen the boundary flagged in draft §16.3 and the TE-09 asymmetric-
recognition addition — when exactly does a recognized-but-autonomous
individual cross into Social Beinghood?

**Done when:** `concepts/being.md` / `concepts/recognition.md` state a
testable boundary condition, checked against TE-05 and TE-09.

---

### T04 — Empirical/operational metrics scoping

```task
id: SOUL-WP-0009-T04
status: todo
priority: low
```

Scope (not necessarily build) measurable proxies for the A-axis (B1–B8),
B-axis (P1–P12), and continuity profiles (draft §16.4). This is a scoping
task — full metric development may become its own workplan.

**Done when:** a scoping note exists identifying which axes are plausibly
measurable now vs. which require new instruments.

---

### T05 — Moral/legal personhood companion line (explicitly separate)

```task
id: SOUL-WP-0009-T05
status: todo
priority: low
```

Per SCOPE.md's out-of-scope boundary ("Silent moral/legal personhood
claims"), scope this as a **separate, explicitly-bounded** companion
research line rather than loosening the descriptive core. Draft a one-page
charter for that companion line (could become its own future workplan) —
do not attempt the mapping itself here.

**Done when:** a short charter note exists (e.g.
`research/law-governance/moral-legal-personhood-charter.md`) stating scope,
non-goals, and the explicit boundary against the descriptive core.

---

### T06 — External review / publication pathway decision

```task
id: SOUL-WP-0009-T06
status: todo
priority: medium
```

Using the freeze candidate as the review artifact, decide the pathway:
internal circulation, external pre-print, conference/journal target, or
further revision cycles before either. This is a founder-gate decision.

**Done when:** decision recorded via `record_decision`/`resolve_decision`
naming the chosen pathway and next concrete step.