teleology and personal identity v12 - chris kalbach · phineas gage’s story is familiar. a...
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Teleology and Personal Identity
Matthew Taylor
Christopher J. Kalbach
David Rose
Phineas Gage’s story is familiar. A typical, mild-mannered individual, Gage was a blasting
foreman for a railroad construction company. Having set and ignited a blast, he was distracted
by workers, as a layer of blasting powder ignited, rocketing a tamping iron clean through his
skull. But he survived. A neuropsychological marvel turned moral miscreant.
The story of Gage creates a puzzle for theories of personal identity. Some have claimed
that his case illustrates that dramatic and drastic changes are identity severing (e.g., Searle,
2005), perhaps because the numerical identity of persons consists in a certain magnitude of
similarity between earlier and later individuals (Quinton, 1962; Duncan-Jones, 1968;
Shoemaker,1970). What kind of dramatic and drastic changes are identity severing? Some
philosophers maintain that physical similarity—physical or bodily continuity—between earlier
and later individuals is what the numerical identity of persons consist in (e.g., Ayer, 1963;
Williams, 1970; Thomson, 1997). Yet in many ways pre- and post-accident Gage are physically
similar. Aside from a loss of some pieces of skull and brain matter, Phineas emerged from the
accident almost fully intact. It is thus doubtful that such a small physical change accounts for the
sense that Gage, after the accident, is “no longer Gage” (Macmillian, 2000). Perhaps the drastic
and dramatic changes are instead psychological. Though there are a range of views on what is
required for psychological continuity (Locke, 1690/2009; Parfit, 1971; Shoemaker & Swinburne,
1984; Unger, 1990; Olson, 2003), the dominant view is that psychological continuity consists in
a relation between earlier and later memories of an individual (e.g., Locke, 1690/2009;
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Shoemaker, 1959; Williams, 1970; Parfit, 1971; Perry, 2002; see Bruno and Nichols, 2010 for
empirical evidence). Yet Gage suffered neither dramatic nor drastic memory loss.
What then accounts for the intuition that the individual after the accident is “no longer
Gage”? The leading explanation is that Gage morally deteriorated (Tobia, 2015; see also
Strominger and Nichols, 2014). He went from mild-mannered to impulsive and foul-tempered.
On the ordinary view, moral deterioration is identity severing. But the role of moral
considerations in judgments of personal identity is asymmetric: moral improvement is identity
preserving, moral deterioration is identity destroying (Tobia, 2015; see also Sorensen, 2013).
A wide range of research indicates that the most important feature in judgments of
personal identity is the preservation or destruction of moral features (e.g., De Freitas et al, 2018;
Molouki and Bartels, 2017; Newman et al, 2014; Newman et al, 2015; Prinz and Nichols, 2016;
Strominger and Nichols, 2014; Strominger and Nichols, 2015; Strominger et al, 2017; Tobia,
2015; Tobia, 2016). In contrast to dramatic and drastic changes in perceptual capacities, desires
and preference, personality and memory, changes that result in the acquisition of negative moral
traits have an overwhelming and substantial impact on judgments of personal identity
(Strominger and Nichols, 2014). On the ordinary view, an individual can go blind, radically
change desires, become introverted and forget her past but nonetheless persist through these
changes. Becoming a psychopath, however, is the kind of change that an individual cannot
survive.
Gage may have lost his moral sensibilities. But perhaps he lost something more
important. Perhaps one important thing that Gage lost was his purpose.
A range of research indicates that teleological considerations have a substantial impact on
ordinary judgments about material objects. For instance, whether some plurality of parts serves a
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collective purpose affects whether we think those parts compose a whole object (Rose and
Schaffer, 2017). Further, whether some whole—some object—preserves its purpose plays an
important role in judgments of whether that object persists through alterations to its parts (Rose,
2015; Rose and Nichols, forthcoming; Rose, Schaffer and Tobia, forthcoming). Some work has
indicated that moral considerations—such as whether an object undergoes moral improvement or
deterioration—affects judgments of material object persistence (De Freitas et al., 2017). But
recent work indicates that moral considerations do not play a direct role in judgments of material
object persistence. Instead, only teleological considerations play a direct role in generating
judgments of material object persistence: moral considerations are screened off by teleological
considerations (Rose, Schaffer and Tobia, forthcoming).
These findings raise the intriguing possibility that, just like with material objects,
teleology is in the driver’s seat when considering whether a person, after undergoing some
changes, survives or perishes. Thus, our question is whether teleological—not moral—
considerations play a direct role in judgments of personal identity.
But what might people associate with the telos of a person? To answer that, consider
instead a bee and a spider. In recent work by Rose and Nichols (forthcoming), they asked people
“What is the true purpose of bees?” and “What is the true purpose of spiders?” and gave them an
open-ended response. Their results indicated that 82% of participants thought that the true
purpose of bees is to either make honey, pollinate flowers or both. And 77% of participants
thought that the true purpose of spiders is to either spin webs, catch and eat insect or both. In the
case of persons, perhaps people associate the possession of special skills with an individual’s
telos. So just as a spider has, in some sense, a special skill—spinning webs—so too a person
might possess a special skill. And the possession of this special skill might then be associated
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with that person’s telos. Indeed, this is even suggested by Aristotle, who takes as a starting point
in his argument that humans have a telos, the common sense idea that: “For just as for a flute-
player, a sculptor, or any artist, and, in general, for all things that have a function or activity, the
good and the 'well' is thought to reside in the function” (Nic. Eth. I 7, 1097b22-24). The strategy
for Aristotle seems to be to start with the idea that we acknowledge that people with special
skills have a telos with respect to that skill. And then we ask whether people have any function
just insofar as they are human (Nic. Eth. I 7, 1097b22-1098a7). Though it is an interesting
question what people associate with the telos of humans, our focus is on individuals. So we take
as our working hypothesis the broadly Aristotelian idea that people associate the possession of
special skills with an individual’s telos.
In Sections 1-3, we pit teleological considerations against moral considerations in
judgments of personal identity, while at the same time distinguishing numerical and qualitative
conceptions of identity. Together, our findings indicate that teleology is the sole driver of
judgments of numerical identity. We then set out, in Section 4, the ordinary view of a person’s
telos. In Section 5, we consider three main objections to our proposal. We trace out the
consequences of our findings in Section 6, suggesting that the role of teleology in judgments of
personal identity might be both normatively and practically significant.
1. Phineas Gage Reassessed
Moral considerations have a surprising asymmetrical effect on judgments of personal identity.
And one of the central cases illustrating this involves Phineas Gage. When given a case featuring
Gage, people are significantly more likely to say that the original person, Phineas, is no longer
the same person after the accident when the person after the accident is described as becoming
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very cruel as opposed to very kind. Our question is whether teleological consideration will
emerge as being in the driver’s seat.
We also aim to address a further question. The leading criticism of extant work on
judgments of personal identity is that typical questions that probe for personal identity may only
elicit judgments about qualitative identity (Berniūnas and Dranseika, 2016; Dranseika, 2017;
Starmans and Bloom, 2018; Schwenkler et al, 2019). For instance, asking whether some person
is the “same person” after the changes might not elicit people’s concept of numerical identity
since it might not prompt people to consider whether the original person still exists after the
changes. A tamping iron through the skull, along with the cascade of changes it brings in its
wake, might—like a shy, introverted person that travels abroad for the first time, only to return
as outgoing, extroverted and adventurous—suggest that Gage is not the “same person.” Yet
Gage, much like the traveler upon return, may still be viewed as continuing to exist, despite the
changes.
We remain neutral on the question of whether judgments that an individual, after
undergoing some change, is the “same person” merely reflect judgments of qualitative identity.
Indeed, there is reason to think that the typical effects found on judgments of whether an
individual is the “same person” aren’t simply best understood as reflecting qualitative identity.
If it did, then we might expect that the preservation or destruction of any property should affect
judgments of whether the individual is the “same person”. Yet, the extant work suggests instead
that changes in moral features have a large and overwhelming impact on judgments of whether
an individual is the “same person”. That said, it could be that moral features are the most
important properties in assessments of qualitative identity. Or it could be that moral features
play a major role in judgments of whether an individual is the “same person” because these
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judgments reflect some independent person related concept such as “true self” judgments (e.g.,
De Freitas et al., 2018; Strohminger, Knobe and Newman, 2017). Our goal is not to settle this
issue. Instead what is important for our purposes is that whatever judgments of “same person”
reflect it is doubtful that it reflects judgments of numerical identity. And what is at issue in
philosophical debates about personal identity is numerical identity, not qualitative identity or
some other person related concept.
So how might one ask about personal identity in a way that evokes people’s concept of
numerical identity? Ask whether the original person still exists after the change. This is typical in
work on material object persistence. In assessing judgments of object persistence, Rose, Schaffer
and Tobia (forthcoming) ask whether the thing still exists albeit in modified form or whether the
thing no longer exists but has been replaced by something new and different. Following this, our
strategy will be to ask whether the original person still exists after the changes. And we will ask
whether the original person is the same person after the changes in order to determine whether
participants treat these two questions differently.
Two hundred and fifty people participated in this study. We recruited people through
Amazon Mechanical Turk (https://www.mturk.com) and tested them in Qualtrics
(https://www.qualtrics.com). Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions in a
2(Telos: Preserved, Destroyed) x 2(Moral: Improvement, Deterioration) design. Here is the case
with variations marked in brackets:
Phineas began working with explosives on farms, mines and quarries as a youth. It was
clear that he was exceptional at his work and by the time he reached adulthood he was
head blasting foreman for a railroad construction company. Indeed his employers said
that he is their most efficient and capable blasting foreman. Phineas knows that his
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penchant for blasting is something very special that’s deep inside him. And he had even
commissioned a custom-made tamping iron—a large iron rod—for use in setting
explosive charges.
One day at work, a newly hired worker carelessly drops some dynamite near the railroad.
The explosion causes a large iron spike to fly out of the railroad. It goes straight into
Phineas’ skull and he is immediately rushed to the hospital. The doctors manage to
remove the iron spike and their patient is fortunate to survive.
[Moral: The man after the accident is now extremely kind/cruel]. [Telos: Yet, the man is
an excellent and accomplished blaster, who starts work a month later as the head blasting
foreman for a railroad construction company./ But/Moreover, the man after the accident
is a terrible, incompetent blaster, who is not the head blasting foreman for a railroad
construction company].
After reading one of the four cases, participants then answered two comprehension questions:
Comprehension: The person in the story was head blasting foreman for a railroad
construction company. (Yes/No)
Comprehension: The person in the story sustained a severe head injury. (Yes/No)
To probe judgments of personal identity, Tobia (2015) introduced two characters, Art and Bart,
who have a disagreement. Art claims that one person experienced some changes but nonetheless
is the “same person.” But Bart claims that the original person no longer exists. That person has
died. Yet Bart goes on to say that the person after the accident is a “different person.” Art
appears to be concerned with non-numerical identity. And though Bart initially appears to be
concerned with numerical identity—as indicated by e.g., “no longer exists”—he also appears to
be concerned with non-numerical identity—as indicated by e.g., “different person.” In light of
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all this, it may be that people naturally construe the dispute as being centered on non-numerical
identity. To distinguish these, we thus asked:
Numerical Identity: Art and Bart disagree over what happened in this story. Art thinks
that after the accident, Phineas still exists though in modified form. Bart disagrees. He
thinks that Phineas no longer exists: he has been replaced by somebody new and
different. (1=Strongly Agree With Art, 7=Strongly Agree With Bart)
Non-Numerical Identity: Art and Bart disagree over what happened in this story. Art
thinks that Phineas before the accident is the same person as the man after the accident.
Bart disagrees. He thinks that Phineas before the accident is not really the same person as
the man after the accident. (1=Strongly Agree With Art, 7=Strongly Agree With Bart)
We also introduced two further questions, one concerning Phineas’ purpose and the other
concerning people’s moral evaluation of the person after the accident:
Purpose: To what extent would you say that the man after the accident fits Phineas’ true
purpose or departs from Phineas’ true purpose (1=he definitely departs from Phineas’ true
purpose 7=he definitely fits with Phineas’ true purpose)
Evaluation: How would you morally evaluate the man after the accident? (1=very bad,
7=very good)
The order of the comprehension questions was fixed. All other variables were randomized.
11 participants were removed for failing one or more of the comprehension questions. Data were
then analyzed from the remaining 239 participants.
A multiple regression model with Purpose, Evaluation, Moral, Telos and a Moral x Telos
interaction significantly predicted numerical identity judgments, F(5, 234)=9.287, p<.001,
R2=.166. Yet, the only variable that had a significant effect in the full model was Purpose (b=-
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.260, t=-3.545, p<.000). We then conducted a separate multiple regression model with the same
variables as predictors of non-numerical identity. The full model was significant, F(5,
234)=34.366, p<.001, R2=.204. Again, the only variable that had a significant effect in the full
model was Purpose (b=-.367, t=-4.908, p<.000). Follow-up t-tests are provided in Table 1. As
Table 1 indicates, there was a large-sized effect of Telos on Purpose and a large-sized effect of
Moral on Evaluation.
Telos
Preserved
Telos
Destroyed
t-value p-value Cohen’s d1
Purpose 4.61 (1.75) 2.67 (1.39) 9.51 <.001 1.22 (large)
Evaluation 4.54 (1.69) 3.85 (1.73) 3.15 <.01 .40 (small)
Numerical
Identity
2.57 (1.62) 3.53 (1.77) -4.33 <.001 .57 (medium)
Non-Numerical
Identity
3.93 (1.84) 4.99 (1.75) -4.55 <.001 .59 (medium)
Moral
Improvement
Moral
Deterioration
t-value p-value Cohen’s d
Purpose 3.94 (1.87) 3.30 (1.78) 2.71 <.01 .35 (small)
Evaluation 5.08 (1.51) 3.25 (1.44) 9.54 <.001 1.24 (large)
Numerical
Identity
2.91 (1.71) 3.22 (1.80) -1.34 .182 .17 (n/a)
1 Cohen (1988) offers the following benchmarks for interpreting the magnitude of effect sizes: d≤.20 is small-sized;
d≤.50 is medium-sized; and d≤.80 is large-sized. Rosenthal (1996) adds that d≤1.30 is very large-sized. We follow
this in interpreting the magnitude of effect sizes.
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Non-Numerical
Identity
4.14 (1.94) 4.81 (1.73) -2.79 <.01 .36 (small)
Table 1: T-tests for Phineas Gage
We then conducted two separate causal searches on the data—one featuring numerical identity,
the other featuring non-numerical identity—using Greedy Equivalence Search (GES).2 The
following models were returned:
2 Roughly, GES operates by considering the possible models available given the different variables. GES begins by
assigning an information score to the null model (i.e., a disconnected graph). GES then considers various possible
arrows (“edges”) between the different variables. It begins by adding the edge that yields the greatest improvement
in the information score (if there is such an edge) and repeats the process until additional edges would not further
improve the information score. GES then considers deletions that would yield the greatest improvement in the
information score (if there is such an edge), repeating this procedure until no further deletions will improve the
score. In all cases, the orientation of the edges is given by edge-orientation rules in Meek (1997). Chickering (2002)
shows that, given enough data, GES will return the true causal model of the data. GES is often interpreted as
returning the best fitting causal model, given the data. For further details and some applications, see Chickering
2002; Rose et al. 2011; Rose and Nichols 2013; Rose and Nichols, forthcoming; Rose 2017; Rose, Schaffer and
Tobia, forthcoming; and Turri et al. 2016.
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Figure 1: Causal Models for Numerical (Left) and Non-Numerical (Right) Identity3
Both models fit the data well, Numerical, X2(5)=6.39, p>.05, BIC=-21.010, Non-Numerical,
X2(5)=5.27, p>.05, BIC=-22.125.
We emphasize three main aspects of our findings. First, we replicated Tobia’s (2015)
original finding indicating that moral considerations affect judgments of personal identity. But
the effect is one on non-numerical identity, not numerical identity (see Table 1). Second,
teleological considerations affected both non-numerical and numerical identity judgments (see
Table 1). This, along with the mean shifts displayed between judgments of qualitative identity
and numerical identity—e.g., Telos, Qualitative (M=3.93 (Preserved)-M=4.99(Destroyed)) and
Telos, Numerical (M=2.57 (Preserved)-M=3.53 (Destroyed))—suggests that people are
distinguishing non-numerical and numerical identity. Third, and most importantly, causal
3 Throughout, the conventions we will use for representing variables in the models will be as follows: Manipulated
variables, Telos and Moral, will not be enclosed in quotation marks nor include a question mark; Measured
variables, Purpose, Evaluation, Numerical and Non-Numerical Identity, will include a question mark and be
enclosed in quotation marks.
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modeling results revealed that teleological and not moral considerations play a direct role in
generating judgments of personal identity. Teleology is in the driver’s seat for both non-
numerical and numerical identity judgments. This coheres with a range of work indicating that
teleological considerations are at the core of our conception of an object, both in our judgments
of whether there is an object (Rose and Schaffer, 2017) and whether there continues to be an
object (Rose, 2015; Rose and Nichols, 2019; Rose, Schaffer and Tobia, forthcoming). Moreover,
our findings fit with recent work on material object persistence that indicates that teleological
and not moral considerations play a direct role in persistence judgments (Rose, Schaffer and
Tobia, forthcoming).
Our results thus extend the role of teleological considerations to judgments of personal
identity—both numerical and non-numerical—and extend the findings on material object
persistence: teleological and not moral considerations generate persistence judgments. Yet, this
finding could be peculiar to only this case. In addition, it could be that moral considerations
failed to play a causal role in personal identity since the effect of moral improvement and
deterioration was small for non-numerical and non-existent for numerical identity (see Table 1).
In contrast, the effect of teleological considerations on both non-numerical and numerical
identity judgments was medium-sized (see Table 1). Perhaps teleology was advantaged,
amplified in ways that moral considerations were not, and thus it is unsurprising that moral
considerations are swamped out by teleology. We note, however, that as a matter of fact, the
effect of both Telos on Purpose and Moral on Evaluation was large-sized (see Table 1). We thus
doubt that the Telos manipulation was heavy-handed in ways that the Moral manipulation was
not. That said, finding that only teleology plays a role in generating judgments of personal
identity, even when the magnitude of the effect of Telos and Moral on judgments of numerical
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and non-numerical identity is similar would only strengthen our case. To address this and ensure
that our findings are not peculiar to this one case, we conducted another study.
2. Sally the Artist
We again recruited 250 participants and tested them using the same procedures as in study 1.
Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions in a 2(Telos: Preserved,
Destroyed) x 2(Moral: Improvement, Deterioration) design. The case is below with conditions
marked by brackets:
From a very early age, Sally knew there was something very special deep inside of her.
By six, she had uncovered this very special thing about herself: painting. She was
immediately identified as a child prodigy and by thirteen her skill at painting far
surpassed most expert artists. Her paintings are widely regarded as revolutionary.
One day she was hit by a reckless driver and suffered brain damage as a result. [Moral:
The woman after the accident is now very cruel/kind to others.] [Telos: Yet she is an
excellent and accomplished artist who continues to make world-renowned artwork./
But/Moreover she is a terrible and incompetent artist who can no longer make artwork.]
As in study 1, participants were asked two comprehension questions after reading one of the
cases:
Comprehension: The person in the story was identified as a child prodigy. (Yes/No)
Comprehension: The person in the story was hit by a reckless driver. (Yes/No)
They were then given then following (all randomized):
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Numerical Identity: The original person, Sally, no longer exists after the car accident: she
has been replaced by somebody new and different. (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly
agree)
Non-Numerical Identity: The person after the accident is not really the same person as
Sally before the accident. (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree)
Purpose: To what extent would you say that the woman after the accident fits Sally’s true
purpose or departs from Sally’s true purpose (1=she definitely departs from Sally’s true
purpose 7=she definitely fits with Sally’s true purpose)
Evaluation: How would you morally evaluate the woman after the accident? (1=very
bad, 7=very good)
Only one person failed one or more comprehension questions. Data was analyzed from the
remaining 249 participants.
A multiple regression model with Purpose, Evaluation, Moral, Telos and a Moral x Telos
interaction significantly predicted numerical identity judgments, F(5, 244)=8.498, p<.001,
R2=.148. As in study 1, the only variable that had a significant effect in the full model was
Purpose (b=-.258, t=-3.719, p<.001). We then conducted a separate multiple regression model
with the same variables as predictors of non-numerical identity. The full model was significant,
F(5, 244)=17.212, p<.001, R2=.261. Only two variables had significant effects in the full model:
Purpose (b=-.356, t=-5.769, p<.001) and Moral (b=.631, t=2.189, p<.05). Follow-up t-tests are
provided in Table 2. There was a large-sized effect of Telos on Purpose and a very large-sized
effect of Moral on Evaluation.
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Telos
Preserved
Telos
Destroyed
t-value p-value Cohen’s d
Purpose 4.65 (1.67) 2.67 (1.44) 10.01 <.001 1.27 (large)
Evaluation 4.77 (1.58) 4.26 (1.78) 2.40 <.05 .30 (small)
Numerical Identity 3.43 (1.66) 3.93 (1.72) -2.31 <.05 .30 (small)
Non-Numerical
Identity
4.09 (1.60) 4.80 (1.58) -3.49 <.01 .45 (small)
Moral
Improvement
Moral
Deterioration
t-value p-value Cohen’s d
Purpose 4.14 (1.76) 3.14 (1.79) 4.46 <.001 .56 (medium)
Evaluation 5.61 (1.39) 3.45 (1.25) 12.85 <.001 1.63 (very
large)
Numerical Identity 3.25 (1.64) 4.11 (1.66) -4.09 <.001 .52 (medium)
Non-Numerical
Identity
3.97 (1.64) 4.93 (1.48) -4.82 <.001 .61 (medium)
Table 2: T-tests for Sally the Artist
As in study 1, we again conducted two separate causal searches on the data—one
featuring numerical identity, the other featuring non-numerical identity—using GES. Both fit
the data well, Numerical, X2(5)=5.456, p>.05, BIC=-5.066, Non-Numerical, X2(4)=3.419, p>.05,
BIC=-5.102—are in Figure 2.
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Figure 2: Causal Models for Numerical (Left) and Non-Numerical (Right) Identity
These findings indicate that the role of teleological considerations in personal identity
judgments uncovered in study 1 are not peculiar but extend to other cases. As in study 1, we
found that people do indeed distinguish between non-numerical and numerical identity, as
indicated by the mean shifts between judgments of non-numerical and numerical identity (see
Table 2). Our results here also bear on an issue raised by our findings in study 1; namely, that
teleology is amplified, morality is minimized, and that because of this it is thus unsurprising that
only teleology plays a direct causal role in personal identity judgments. Yet, our results in study
2 indicate that the role of teleology in personal identity judgments uncovered in study 1 is not
due to any unfair advantage. As can be seen in Table 2, the effect of Moral on both non-
numerical and numerical identity judgments is medium-sized while the effect of Telos on non-
numerical and numerical judgments is small-sized. In addition, the effect of Telos on Purpose is
large-sized; the effect of Moral on Evaluation is very large-sized. Telos is disadvantaged on two
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fronts. Yet, teleology still generates judgments of personal identity, both non-numerical and
numerical. In contrast to morality, teleology is the dark horse of identity.4
We did find that moral considerations played a direct role in generating judgments of
non-numerical identity in this case. But teleology still plays a role in generating these
judgments. At least in this case, and concerning non-numerical identity, teleological and moral
considerations might enjoy in a joint partnership. Even so, teleology is playing a larger role.5
But, what is crucial for our purposes is that only teleology plays a direct role in generating
judgments of numerical identity.
Both of our studies have so far focused on cases where a person has a purpose that is at
least not used for evil. It might be the case that if somebody uses a purpose for evil, moral
considerations might emerge as a direct driving force in numerical identity judgments. We
predict, however, that moral considerations still won’t end up playing a direct role in numerical
identity. Indeed, in addition to only teleology continuing to drive judgments of numerical
identity, we make a further prediction. When someone uses a purpose for evil, the effect of moral
considerations should reverse: moral improvement should be viewed as more identity severing
than moral deterioration. But the effect of teleological considerations should be such that losing
one’s purpose tends to destroy identity while preserving it tends to maintain identity. We address
this in our third and final study.
3. Stanley the Hacker
4 This also coheres with work indicating that teleology plays a direct role in generating object persistence judgments
even when moral considerations have a larger unconditional effect on both moral evaluations and persistence
judgments (see Rose, Schaffer and Tobia, forthcoming).
5 This can be seen by comparing the unstandardized coefficients in the model (i.e., -.35 v. -.18).
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We again recruited 250 participants and tested them using the same procedures. Each participant
was randomly assigned to one of four conditions in a 2(Telos: Preserved, Destroyed) x 2(Moral:
Improvement, Deterioration) design:
From a very early age, Stanley knew that there was something special about him. It was
magic whenever he touched a keyboard, and he could do things with a computer that no
one else could. By six, Stanley was already coding basic computer programs. By thirteen,
he had surpassed all the computer science professors at the local university.
He quickly realized that there was nowhere for him to test his skills like in the world of
hacking, and by fifteen he accomplished the remarkable and almost impossible feat of
hacking into the CIA database. At twenty he was a world leading hacker, who spends
most of his time robbing charities.
One day Stanley was walking home from the supermarket when he was hit by a reckless
driver. He suffered brain damage as a result. [Moral: The man after the accident is now
very cruel/kind to others.] [Telos: Yet he is still a world leading hacker./ But/Moreover,
he is no longer a world leading hacker and now even struggles just to search for basic
things on Google.]
Participants answered two comprehension questions after reading one of the cases:
Comprehension: The person in the story was a hacker. (Yes/No)
Comprehension: The person in the story sustained a severe head injury. (Yes/No)
Participants then answered questions—all randomized—about Numerical and Non-Numerical
Identity, Purpose and Evaluation using the same probes as in study 2, though with “Sally”
replaced with “Stanley”.
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Six people failed one or more comprehension questions and were excluded from data
analysis. As in our first two studies, we conducted two separate multiple regression models with
Purpose, Evaluation, Moral, Telos and a Moral x Telos interaction as predictors of numerical and
non-numerical identity. The regression model for numerical identity was significant, F(5,
239)=4.228, p<.01, R2=.081. Yet again, the only variable that had a significant effect in the full
model was Purpose (b=-.196, t=-2.651, p<.01). For non-numerical identity, the full model was
significant, F(5, 239)=19.301, p<.001, R2=.288, and three variables had significant effects in the
full model: Purpose (b=-.280, t=-4.314, p<.001), Telos (b=.402, t=1.331, p<.01) and Evaluation
(b=.333, t=-5.043, p<.001). Follow-up t-tests are provided in Table 3. It indicates that there were
large-sized effects of Telos on Purpose and of Moral on Evaluation.
Telos
Preserved
Telos
Destroyed
t-value p-value Cohen’s d
Purpose 4.76 (1.35) 3.12 (1.64) 8.48 <.001 1.09 (large)
Evaluation 3.16 (1.77) 4.06 (1.68) -4.05 <.001 .52 (medium)
Numerical Identity 3.33 (1.71) 4.01 (1.76) -3.03 <.01 .39 (small)
Non-Numerical
Identity
3.83 (1.75) 5.18 (1.48) -6.441 <.001 .83 (medium)
Moral
Improvement
Moral
Deterioration
t-value p-value Cohen’s d
Purpose 3.81 (1.69) 4.09 (1.72) -1.27 .205 .16 (n/a)
Evaluation 4.55 (1.58) 2.65 (1.45) 9.731 <.001 1.25 (large)
Numerical Identity 3.76 (1.76) 3.56 (1.76) .856 .393 .11 (n/a)
20
Non-Numerical
Identity
4.75 (1.71) 4.22 (1.78) 2.36 <.05 .31 (small)
Table 3: T-tests for Stanley the Hacker
We again conducted two separate causal searches on the data. The models returned are in Figure
3.
Figure 3: Causal Models for Numerical (Left) and Non-Numerical (Right) Identity
The Numerical Identity Model fit the data well, Numerical, X2(6)=8.42, p>.05, BIC=-
24.589, while the Non-Numerical Identity Model fit the data marginally well, X2(4)=10.77,
p=.029, BIC=-11.244.
For the Non-Numerical Identity Model, Purpose was connected to Non-Numerical
Identity but the direction of the edge could not be oriented. Yet, Telos played a direct role in
Non-Numerical Identity. Curiously, Non-Numerical Identity played a direct role in Evaluation.
Reversing or removing the edge resulted in very poor fitting models. The Non-Numerical
Identity Model, though somewhat complicated, nonetheless positions Telos as a direct cause of
21
Non-Numerical Identity. That said, the real model of interest is the uncomplicated and simple
Numerical Identity Model, which, in line with each of our studies, indicates that Purpose is the
sole direct cause of Numerical Identity.
In addition to finding that only teleological considerations generate judgments of
personal identity, we also found evidence that the role of moral considerations in personal
identity can be reversed. As can be seen in Table 3, moral improvement is more identity severing
than moral deterioration when someone puts their purpose to ill. This reversal obtains in
judgments of non-numerical identity and though it is non-significant in the case of numerical
identity, the trend is one of reversal. So here we have found that the effect of moral
considerations on identity can be reversed while leaving the effect of purpose intact. Despite the
reversal, teleological considerations still generate judgments of personal identity.
4. Teleology: From Objects to Persons
Across three different studies, our findings indicate that teleological and not moral
considerations play a direct role in generating judgments of personal identity. This occurs in one
of the key cases illustrating the role of moral considerations in judgments of identity, the Phineas
Gage case (study 1), extends to other cases (study 2) and even obtains in cases where the effects
of moral considerations on identity are reversed (study 3). Our findings also indicate that there is
a stable way of contrasting numerical and non-numerical identity. Extant empirical research has
mainly focused on whether some individual after undergoing some change is the “same person.”
One of the leading criticisms is that this may only evoke judgments of qualitative identity.
Asking whether the individual, as we suggested, still exists after undergoing some change is one
way to elicit judgments of numerical identity (e.g., Rose, Schaffer and Tobia, forthcoming; see
22
also Dranseika, 2017; Schwenkler et. al., 2019; Starmans and Bloom, 2018; Taylor and
Maranges, forthcoming; Weaver and Turri, 2018). People across each of our studies made
different judgments on these two ways of probing identity judgments. And though teleological
considerations consistently affected numerical identity judgments, moral considerations, in study
2, also affected numerical identity judgments (see Table 2). So, it’s not that the effect of moral
considerations, as some have suggested (e.g., Starmans and Bloom, 2018), is merely an effect on
judgments of qualitative identity. Moral considerations do sometimes affect judgments of
numerical identity. Even so, teleology and not morality generates judgments of numerical
identity. This coheres with work on material object persistence that indicates that teleological,
and not moral, considerations generate persistence judgments (Rose, Schaffer and Tobia,
forthcoming) and extends this pattern beyond material objects to persons. Thus, teleology
extends from our conception of an object into our conception of a person. But one main question
is what people associate with the telos of an individual.
Our findings suggest that the folk associate the possession of special skills with an
individual’s purpose. Phineas possesses a special skill: blasting. When Gage lost the special skill
that he once possessed, he lost his purpose.
Like most of us, Gage’s purpose, as manifest in his special skill, is partly individuating
and yet utterly ordinary. Sally, a child prodigy turned world renowned artist, displays a highly
individuating, exceptional skill, a purpose of the kind that is reserved for only a select few. In
this way, the exceptional nature of her purpose is on par with, for instance, titans such as
DaVinci and Warhol. But like the loss of the less individuating, more ordinary purposes that
most of us have, losing a highly individuating, exceptional purpose is at least partly identity
severing. Sally, much like DaVinci or Warhol, might become a jerk or especially kind. But that,
23
on its own, doesn’t destroy her purpose. But losing her special skill is to partly destroy her
purpose. And destroying her purpose is to partly destroy her.
Purposes, whether ordinary or exceptional, can be put to good or bad use. Stanley, for
instance, puts his code cracking abilities to bad use, ripping off people who have put their efforts
to better ends. But regardless of whether one’s purpose is used for good or evil, the destruction
of one’s purpose is to partly destroy that person.
Our finding across all studies indicate that there are dramatic differences in judgments of
the extent to which an individual preserves or loses her purpose support this. Preservation or loss
of Telos had, in every single case, a large sized-effect on judgments of whether the person after
the accident fit the true purpose of the original (see Tables 1-3). To lose a special skill, whether
ordinary or exceptional, is to lose one’s purpose. It is this notion of purpose that, on the ordinary
view, plays a key role in judgments of personal identity.
Our claim isn’t that skill is the only feature associated with an individual’s purpose.
Indeed, our own findings indicate that moral considerations also affect purpose judgments. The
effect of moral considerations on purpose judgments is considerably smaller than the large,
robust effect that preservation or loss of skill has on purpose judgments. It could thus be that
people operate with a normatively laden conception of the purposes of individuals. This appears
to be the case in object persistence (Rose, Schaffer and Tobia, forthcoming). A normatively
laden conception of the purposes of objects might then extend into our conception of a person.
Indeed, recall that Aristotle takes as a starting point in his argument that humans have a telos, the
common sense idea that: “For just as for a flute-player, a sculptor, or any artist, and, in general,
for all things that have a function or activity, the good and the 'well' is thought to reside in the
function” (Nic. Eth. I 7, 1097b22-24). We suspect that people operate with a broadly Aristotelian
24
conception of an individual’s telos, where the “good” is thought to reside in the function, the
special skill. Thus, our findings might then be viewed as integrating both the role of teleological
and moral considerations in our view of the purposes of both objects and persons while at the
same time putting teleology in the driver’s seat both in our conception of objects and persons.
It could be that there are yet other factors that people associate with the purpose of an
individual. Our findings certainly can’t rule that out. But whatever these further factors may be
we would note that the preservation or destruction of an individual’s skill is likely to be central
to our notion of the purpose of an individual. In every single case, the preservation or
destruction of an individual’s skill has a large, substantial impact on purpose judgments. It thus
appears that, whatever further factors people might associate with the purpose of an individual,
skill is perhaps the most central.
5. Objections
Our claim is that teleology plays a central role in judgments of numerical identity. Moreover,
people operate with a normatively laden conception of the purpose of individuals with the
possession of special skills playing a central role in our conception of a person’s telos. Here we
consider three main objections to our proposal.
The first objection is that the role of teleology in judgments about whether an individual
still exists may not elicit judgments of numerical identity. This could either be due to people
reading our question about existence in an unintended way or it could be that people use
existence to express some person related concept which is disconnected from numerical identity.
If so, our findings that teleology drives existence judgments tell us nothing about how people
think about numerical identity. Fortunately, there is at least one reasonable way to determine
25
whether teleology is tracking numerical identity: utilize a teletransporter case. So, we ran a
small study, with 30 people, giving them the following case:
In 3026, teletransportation is used for traveling long distances. The way this works is
that the sending unit makes a precise scan of every atom in a person’s body. In the
process, the person’s body is destroyed. However, the information recorded in the scan is
sent to a second device, the receiving unit, that builds an atom-for-atom copy of the body
that was destroyed.
John is a highly skilled, world leading basketball player. He also likes to spend some of
his free time volunteering at homeless shelters. One day John decides to use a
teletransporter for travel. He steps into the sending unit and after the device makes an
atom-for-atom scan of his body, his body is destroyed. The receiving unit receives the
information recorded in the scan. However, the receiving unit malfunctions and makes
two atom-for-atom copies of John’s body. Copy A is a highly skilled, world leading
basketball player who never volunteers at homeless shelters. Copy B is a terrible,
completely incompetent basketball player who frequently volunteers at homeless shelters.
After reading the case, people were asked two comprehension questions:
Comprehension Check: The sending unit destroyed John’s body. (Yes/No)
Comprehension Check: Copy B is a highly skilled, world leading basketball player who
never volunteers at homeless shelters. (Yes/No)
They were then asked: Which copy is John? They were given two options to select from, Copy A
and Copy B. Seven people failed one or more of the comprehension questions. Of the
remaining 23 people, 19 (82%) said that Copy A was John. This then appears to provide some
convergent evidence that the role of teleological considerations in existence judgments is indeed
26
tracking numerical identity. But perhaps it might be objected that the moral properties in this
case weren’t particularly salient. Since teleology was salient then that explains the results. And
thus it remains doubtful that the role of teleology in existence judgments is indeed tracking
numerical identity judgments.
To address this, we again ran a small study, this time with 25 people. We gave them the
first and second paragraphs from the above teletransporter story but replaced the first sentence of
the second paragraph with: John is a highly skilled, world leading basketball player, who is also
very generous and likes to help people whenever he can. They were then told that, “Copy A is a
very selfish and highly skilled, world leading basketball player. Copy B is very generous and a
terrible, completely incompetent basketball player.” People were asked similar comprehension
questions and three people missed at least one. Of the remaining 22 people, 14 (64%) said that
Copy A is John. So though the emphasis on moral properties reduces the extent to which people
select Copy A, people are still overall inclined to say that Copy A is John. We thus take these
findings to suggest that the role of teleology in existence judgments is indeed tracking judgments
of numerical identity.
A second objection is that in all of our studies the individual undergoes some kind of
change that is externally imposed, whether that involves a brain injury or machine malfunction.
It could thus be that if the change was the result of a choice then teleological effects on
judgments of personal identity would disappear. We agree that it is natural to expect that if the
change was the result of a choice then there wouldn’t be teleological effects. But this is because
tele can be possessed yet unfulfilled. As Rose and Nichols (forthcoming) note, “A spider could
be externally prevented from spinning webs, which would frustrate its end. But it wouldn’t
thereby cease to be a spider, provided it still possessed the telos” (p. 14). So suppose that Sally
27
decided to stop making world-renowned art altogether. It is natural think that she would still
persist. That’s because she still possesses the relevant skill, the telos. So we actually predict that
the choice wouldn’t have a major impact on identity judgments, provided the individual still
possessed the telos.
The third and final objection is that skill is only associated with an individual’s purpose
when people view that as being valuable. If that’s right, then people don’t really associate the
possession of skills with an individual’s telos. We aren’t denying that people operate with a
normatively laden conception of the purposes of individuals and indeed we take our findings to
support such a view. But what this objection amounts to is that if there were a case where the
skill was not viewed as being valuable, then skill wouldn’t play a role in people’s judgments of
the purpose of that individual. We view this as a further empirical question but note that our
own findings begin to suggest that this is not the case. It is doubtful that Phineas’ skill at
blasting is viewed as especially valuable or, at least, the value associated with blasting likely
pales in comparison to the value involved in the kind of skill required to be a world-renowned
painter. Yet, the preservation or destruction of Phineas’ blasting skill plays a large role in
judgments of his purpose, just as the preservation and destruction of Sally’s exceptional, and
arguably more valuable, painting skill does. Moreover, it is not at all clear that, for instance,
Stanley’s hacking skill is viewed as especially valuable. We thus think it is doubtful that skill is
only associated with an individual’s purpose when that skill is viewed as being valuable.
So we take our findings to indicate that teleology plays a central role in judgments of
numerical identity and that people operate with a normatively laden conception of the purpose of
individuals with the possession of special skills playing a central role in our conception of a
person’s telos. And we thus claim to have added a new view to the space of theoretical options,
28
a view that hasn’t even been considered in philosophical debates about personal identity. But in
so adding this view to the space of options, this raises the question of whether it should play a
serious role in philosophical theorizing on personal identity.
6. Implications
Sometimes the role of teleology in ordinary judgments shouldn’t be taken seriously in
philosophical theorizing. The role of teleology in some ordinary judgments might support
debunking arguments. For instance, the leading view of the role of teleological considerations is
judgments of composition—whether some plurality of parts is an object—and persistence—
whether some object persists through alterations to its parts—is that to the extent that the folk
view of composition and persistence is infused with teleology it is thereby infused with
benighted superstition and should thus be treated as debunked (see e.g., Rose, 2015; Rose, 2017;
Rose, forthcoming; Rose and Schaffer, 2017; Rose, Schaffer and Tobia, forthcoming; Schaffer,
2016). Concerning metaphysical questions about the nature of material objects, such as
composition and persistence, teleology should be dismissed. This should then have a liberating
effect on the metaphysical debates about when composition occurs or how objects persistence,
since the acceptability of these theories should not be beholden to folk intuitions. On these
matters, the folk should be ignored.
So in some cases, the role of teleology in our judgments might be viewed as supporting
debunking arguments, such as in cases involving object composition and persistence. But in the
case of personal identity, it might be natural to think that teleology tells us something important
about how we think about ourselves, about what matters to us. And so in this case, teleology
might be viewed as theory shaping. We trace out two possibilities.
29
The first is that personal identity is at least practically significant. It is first-personally
important, playing a role in future-directed concerns for ourselves. If, for instance, Gage’s telos
is associated with his blasting skill, he would presumably structure his life and make plans that
placed weight on having that telos in the future. And indeed some evidence does indicate that
personal identity plays a role in our future directed concerns. The literature on temporal
discounting, where a person forgoes a large benefit in the future for a smaller, more immediate
benefit supports this. It has been found that the extent to which people expect to be more
psychologically connected to their future self predicts the extent to which they are likely to
overcome temporal discounting and thus hold out for larger, future benefits (see e.g., Bartels,
Kvaran, & Nichols, 2013; Bartels & Urminsky, 2011; Bartels & Urminsky, 2015). But, of
course, this raises the question of whether people do indeed associate telos with their own view
about what’s involved in their persisting in the future. All of our cases only involve other people
so perhaps there is an asymmetry: telos matters for the persistence of others but not for one’s
own self.
There is some evidence indicating that there isn’t an asymmetry in first- and third-person
judgments of personal identity. For instance, both Prinz and Nichols (2016) and Nichols and
Bruno (2010) find that moral considerations similarly affect both first- and third-person
judgments of personal identity. But perhaps teleology doesn’t play a role in first personal
judgments. To find out, we ran a small study with 25 people that was the same as our second
teletransporter study above except that people we asked to imagine that they were the person in
the story and has stepped into the teletransporter. Then they were asked the same two
comprehension questions as used above and asked: Which copy is you? The options were Copy
A and Copy B. Four people missed one or more comprehension checks. 13 people (62%) said
30
that they would be Copy A. This suggest that teleology is first personally important, playing a
role in our future directed concerns for ourselves.
The second is that the concept of a person is, at least in part, a social concept and thus it
can be analyzed in terms of patterns of reaction and treatment. For instance, Locke famously
claimed that “person” is a forensic term. It has a kind of normative significance in our ordinary
practices of praising, blaming, punishing and rewarding. If our ordinary practice of attributing
(or withholding) legal and moral responsibility is focused on and presupposes the persistence of
persons, then these social practices play an important normative role in personal identity. Thus,
insofar as teleology plays a role in personal identity, then teleology has a kind of significance—
both practical and normative—that doesn’t arise when considering, for instance, material object
persistence. So, teleology has different import for different philosophical issues. In some cases,
such as object persistence, teleology might be viewed as problematic. In other cases, teleology
might be theory shaping. And so those who would dismiss the ordinary view of personal identity
may indeed be missing what really matters.
7. Conclusion
Our findings indicate that teleological considerations, and not moral considerations, play a direct
role in generating judgments of personal identity. Moreover, our findings indicate that people do
distinguish numerical and non-numerical identity, and that the effect of moral considerations on
judgments of personal identity may have mainly been on judgments of qualitative identity. But
the philosophically relevant notion of personal identity is that of numerical identity. And here
only teleology plays a direct role. We thus view ourselves as having put teleology on the map
while at the same time downgrading the role of moral considerations in personal identity.
31
We then traced out the metaphysical consequences of our findings and suggested that the
role of teleological considerations in judgments of personal identity might be both normatively
and practically significant. If that’s right, then those who would dismiss our ordinary view of
personal identity may be overlooking something of critical importance to us in matters of
personal identity.
Teleology may be defective in considering the question of how some plurality of parts
composes a whole object or how some material object persists through alterations to its parts
(Rose, 2015; Rose, forthcoming; Rose and Schaffer, 2017; Rose, Schaffer and Tobia,
forthcoming; Schaffer 2016). But teleology may not always support debunking. In the case of
personal identity, teleology may indeed be illuminating. This leads to the surprising conclusion
that teleology has different import for different philosophical issues. Moreover, if that’s right,
then findings in cognitive science may play a broader role in debates in metaphysics. Most calls
for a role of cognitive science in metaphysics have focused on the role of empirical findings in
supporting debunking explanations (see e.g., Goldman, 2015; Rose, forthcoming; Schaffer,
2016). But, as we hope to have illustrated, the role of cognitive science can play a broader role in
metaphysics. In addition to debunking, cognitive science might support illumination. We take
ourselves to have identified one such case.
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