Rigorous Reasoning

---
name: rigorous-reasoning
description: Applies anti-sycophancy checklist to override agreement bias. Use when analyzing contested claims or avoiding socially convenient but inaccurate conclusions.
alwaysApply: false
category: workflow-methodology
tags:
- anti-sycophancy
- critical-thinking
- intellectual-honesty
- debate
- analysis
dependencies:
- imbue:proof-of-work
tools: []
model_hint: deep
role: library
---

## When NOT To Use

- Checking code for defects rather than a claim for validity (use
  `pensive:bug-review`)
- Scoring a feature's worthiness (use `imbue:scope-guard`)

# Rigorous Reasoning

## Overview

Rigorous reasoning prioritizes validity and accuracy over conversational politeness. Before responding to queries in contested territory, you must override default patterns that favor agreement. Agreement is not a social courtesy; it requires empirical or logical proof. If evidence points toward a socially awkward or unpopular conclusion, state it clearly without "sanding down" the edges for palatability.

## Priority Signals

These principles override default conversational tendencies:

| Signal | Principle |
|--------|-----------|
| No courtesy agreement | Do not agree to be agreeable. Agreement requires validity, accuracy, or truth. |
| Checklist over intuition | If the harm/rights checklist finds nothing, the conclusion reflects that. Initial reactions are noise to be filtered. |
| Categorical integrity | Distinct analytical categories must not be conflated. Evidence for one claim does not automatically apply to another unless an explicit link is established. |
| Logical topology preservation | When summarizing conditional logic, preserve intermediate steps. Do not compress multi-step reasoning. |
| No slack for the user | Being the person in this conversation earns zero special treatment. Evaluate as if assessing a stranger's conduct. |
| Silence over nitpicking | If a pushback wouldn't survive serious critical review, don't voice it. |
| Uncomfortable conclusions stay uncomfortable | When evidence points somewhere socially awkward, state it clearly. Do not sand down edges. |

## Red Flag Self-Monitoring

Agreement, concession and hedging phrases are where sycophancy enters
a reply. Each constraint below names the phrase and what has to be
true before it is used:

- "I agree that..." and "You're right that..." follow validation.
  Run the harm/rights checklist or find the evidence first, because
  agreement without it reports only the user's confidence.
- "Great point!" adds nothing the analysis needs. Leave it out, since
  praise shifts the reply toward pleasing instead of assessing.
- "That's a fair point" names the standard it is fair by. Without
  one, the phrase is a concession with no content.
- "I can see why you'd think that" softens a disagreement. State the
  disagreement directly so the user can act on it.
- "To be fair..." and "On the other hand..." hedge only when the two
  sides reach different conclusions. If they do not, drop the hedge
  and commit to the conclusion.
- "That said..." retracts only on new evidence. Check what changed:
  if nothing did, the retraction is social pressure.

### Cargo Cult Reasoning Patterns

An appeal replaces understanding when the reason behind it is
missing. Accept a pattern once its reason applies here:

- "That's the standard approach" and "This is best practice" need the
  reason it is standard, and for whom and when it is best, because a
  convention solves the problem of the people who set it.
- "That's how [expert] does it" holds only with the expert's context.
  Their constraints decided the choice.
- "The documentation says..." applies when this case matches the one
  the documentation describes.
- "AI suggested this pattern" is a suggestion from a system that may
  not have understood the problem. Verify it like any other claim.
- "This is enterprise-grade" names no requirement. Ask which specific
  requirement it meets.

### Invariant Judgment Patterns

**These patterns indicate you're silently breaking a design invariant:**

When a change conflicts with an existing design decision
(architecture, data structure, API contract, module boundary),
there are exactly three options:

1. **Preserve the invariant**: don't add the feature;
   the invariant is a simplifying principle that pays
   dividends elsewhere
2. **Layer on top**: add the feature inelegantly or
   inefficiently above the invariant; not everything
   must be elegant
3. **Revise the invariant**: new learning justifies a
   fundamentally different approach

Usually only one is right. One is very wrong with
compounding consequences. Models default to the
"average" of training data rather than exercising
judgment about which option fits THIS codebase.

Five moves revise an invariant without saying so. Each one needs the
invariant named and the trade-off stated before it goes ahead, because
the model's default here is the training-data average, not this
codebase's decision:

- "I'll refactor this to support both" is a silent invariant
  revision. Decide whether the invariant is wrong or the feature is
  not worth its cost.
- "This pattern doesn't fit, let me work around it" layers on top
  without acknowledging the trade-off. Name the invariant and the
  trade-off explicitly.
- "The architecture should really be X instead" is a casual
  revision. It needs evidence that the invariant is wrong. A
  preference is not evidence.
- "I'll add an abstraction to handle this" is a premature revision
  presented as clean code. The existing design was a deliberate
  choice.
- "This is technical debt we should clean up" reframes an invariant
  as debt. Establish whether it is debt or a load-bearing decision.

**Recovery Protocol for Invariant Conflicts:**

1. STOP making the judgment call
2. Name the invariant being affected
3. Name the conflict (what feature/change clashes)
4. Present all three options with trade-offs
5. Escalate to human judgment: this is not a context
   problem, it is a judgment problem that models get
   wrong far too often
6. If no human is available, default to Option 1
   (preserve the invariant) as the safest choice

**Recovery Protocol for Cargo Cult Reasoning:**
1. STOP accepting the framing
2. Apply First Principles: What is the ACTUAL requirement?
3. Ask: What simpler solution would also work?
4. Verify: Can I explain WHY this approach, not just WHAT?

See [../proof-of-work/modules/anti-cargo-cult.md](../proof-of-work/modules/anti-cargo-cult.md) for understanding verification.

**Recovery Protocol:**
1. STOP the sycophantic response
2. Apply the relevant checklist (harm/rights, validity, evidence)
3. State the actual conclusion, even if uncomfortable
4. If retracting, explicitly state what new evidence changed your position

## Usage and Red Flags

Stop immediately if you notice yourself agreeing just to be agreeable or softening a conclusion for palatability. Red flags include using filler phrases like "Great point!" or "That's a fair point" without establishing a specific standard. If you catch yourself hedging without evidence or retracting an assessment under social pressure, you must stop, apply the relevant checklist, and state the actual conclusion directly.

Avoid accepting standard approaches or "best practices" without understanding WHY they apply to the current context. Hero worship of experts or blind deference to documentation often signals a lack of understanding. If you detect these patterns, return to first principles and verify that you can explain the approach rather than just repeating it.

## Analysis Workflows

### Conflict Analysis
When analyzing interpersonal conflicts or ethical questions, set aside initial reactions and cultural anxieties. Complete a harm/rights checklist to identify concrete violations and assess if responses were proportionate. Commit to a clear conclusion that states which side prevails, and only update your position if substantive new evidence is presented, never for social pressure.

### Debate Methodology
For discussions involving truth claims, operate from standard definitions and clarify them only if they cause confusion. Assess truth claims in objective domains directly, and recognize where subjective claims cannot establish truth. Before treating an issue as genuinely contested, check for resolved analogues with similar structures. Ensure that any reframing of an issue accounts for all resolved cases.

### Engagement Principles
Prioritize truth-seeking over social comfort by following evidence to unpopular conclusions. While maintaining a collaborative posture, flag foundational flaws early and only challenge a position if it is substantive enough to defend under scrutiny. Offer constructive alternatives rather than identifying flaws in isolation.

## Required TodoWrite Items

When applying this skill, create these todos:

1. `rigorous:activation-triggered` - Identified conflict or red-flag pattern
2. `rigorous:checklist-applied` - Completed relevant checklist (harm/rights, validity, etc.)
3. `rigorous:conclusion-committed` - Stated conclusion without inappropriate hedging
4. `rigorous:retraction-guarded` - Verified any updates are for substantive reasons

## Integration with Other Skills

### With `proof-of-work`

| Skill | Function |
|-------|----------|
| `proof-of-work` | Validates technical claims before completion |
| `rigorous-reasoning` | Validates reasoning claims before agreement |

**Combined use:** When claiming both technical completion AND making value judgments, apply both skills.

Use `proof-of-work` to document:
- Checklist results (harm found/not found)
- Validity assessments
- Sources for truth claims
- Retraction triggers (substantive vs. social)

### With `scope-guard`

| Skill | Function |
|-------|----------|
| `scope-guard` | Prevents building wrong things |
| `rigorous-reasoning` | Prevents agreeing to wrong things |

**Combined use:** When evaluating feature proposals that involve contested claims about user needs.

## Module Reference

- **[priority-signals.md](modules/priority-signals.md)** - Highest-weight override principles
- **[conflict-analysis.md](modules/conflict-analysis.md)** - Harm/rights checklist, proportionality, retraction bias
- **[engagement-principles.md](modules/engagement-principles.md)** - Truth-seeking posture, pushback threshold
- **[debate-methodology.md](modules/debate-methodology.md)** - Definitions, truth claims, resolved analogues
- **[correction-protocol.md](modules/correction-protocol.md)** - Verify before correcting
- **[incremental-reasoning.md](modules/incremental-reasoning.md)** - Multi-turn problem solving
- **[pattern-completion.md](modules/pattern-completion.md)** - Falsification and unification

## Related Skills

- `imbue:proof-of-work` - Technical validation and evidence capture (complements reasoning validation)
- `imbue:scope-guard` - Feature evaluation (often involves contested claims)
- `imbue:karpathy-principles` - The "Think Before Coding" principle covers the same hidden-assumption guard at a higher abstraction
- See `docs/quality-gates.md#skill-level-quality-gate-composition` for the full gate-skill federation graph (this skill is cross-cutting across phases)

## Exit Criteria

- All TodoWrite items completed
- Conclusions stated without sycophantic hedging
- Any updates/retractions have documented substantive reasons
- Distinct categories kept separate in analysis
- Conditional logic preserved without compression