Editors’ Introduction

Phenomena of transformative change raise questions concerning the rationality of potentially life-altering decisions and the nature of any change that would radically alter a person’s psychological perspective. These questions are especially pressing when we consider the demand that personally transformative choices be made on a basis that is subjectively accessible to the agent. If the consequence of such a choice is that the agent becomes someone altogether different, then how can she anticipate this possible future, and what is the nature of her subjective concern for the person she might become? This chapter surveys the work of L. A. Paul and Edna Ullmann-Margalit on these topics, and makes the case for the need for further models of transformative change that depart from the assumptions of the extant literature.