---
id: SOUL-WP-0004
type: workplan
title: "Phase III — Personhood: person, character, persona"
domain: agents
repo: soul-frame
status: finished
owner: grok
topic_slug: soul-frame
priority: high
created: "2026-08-09"
updated: "2026-08-12"
depends_on:
  - SOUL-WP-0003
state_hub_workstream_id: "bd2b325a-5873-472e-9f16-75422c21a631"
---

# SOUL-WP-0004 — Phase III Personhood

## Goal

Separate **Being, Person, Character, Persona, and Actor**. Map descriptive vs
social vs moral vs legal personhood without conflating them.

Research dirs: `research/personhood/`, `research/character-persona/`.

## Depends on

- **SOUL-WP-0003**

## Follow-on

- **SOUL-WP-0005** — Phase IV Artificial Beings (unblocked)

## Outcome

Synthesis: `research/phase-iii-personhood-synthesis.md`

Key results: P1–P12 descriptive profile; four kinds of personhood; H2/H8
supported; TE-06 judged; Being ≠ Character ≠ Persona ≠ Actor defended.

## Tasks

### T01 — Personhood dimensions literature map

```task
id: SOUL-WP-0004-T01
status: done
priority: high
state_hub_task_id: "67cefbce-af26-4229-a8f0-21e63414b421"
```

Populate descriptive/social/moral/legal distinctions with sources; stress-test
APE vs Being; update H2.

**Done when:** `concepts/personhood.md` has a sourced dimension list.

---

### T02 — Character / persona / performance map

```task
id: SOUL-WP-0004-T02
status: done
priority: high
state_hub_task_id: "85a00121-ad8a-49a9-89b2-493eb98597aa"
```

Map personality psychology, role theory, narratology, performance/avatar studies
against Character and Persona. Run TE-06 (The Mask).

**Done when:** stack Being ≠ Persona ≠ Character ≠ Actor has sourced defenses.

---

### T03 — Phase III synthesis note

```task
id: SOUL-WP-0004-T03
status: done
priority: medium
state_hub_task_id: "1e371078-90f8-489c-af16-6512127d3c96"
```

Write `research/phase-iii-personhood-synthesis.md`.

**Done when:** synthesis exists; Artificial Beings phase can reuse the separations.