ABSTRACT
People possess a teleological stance: we represent artifacts in terms of intended function. Yet, modern tort law is largely agnostic to function in product liability cases: jurors are instructed to permit any foreseeable use or misuse. Here, across three pre-registered studies (N = 742), we examine intuitions on product cases, exploring the downstream consequences of teleology on moral and legal judgment. Participants attribute less fault to the manufacturer of an artifact when a plaintiff misused it (‘liability discounting’) — whether by using it for an alternative function (Study 1) or target (Study 2). This discounting is moderated by the belief that the artifact exists for a singular function (‘narrow teleology’) (Studies 1 & 2). We also show that teleology, rather than foreseeability, better predicts intuitions on real-life tort cases (Study 3). The teleological stance carries downstream consequences for moral reasoning, with normative object representations guiding intuitions of fault.
Gill, Maureen and Keil, Frank, Teleology Predicts Intuitive Judgments of Liability. Posted on SSRN 27 May 2026.
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