Generate Competing Hypotheses

---
name: generate-competing-hypotheses
description: "Generate mechanism-distinct explanations rather than superficial paraphrases."
---

# generate-competing-hypotheses

## Purpose

Generate distinct, testable hypotheses that explain a target observation or research problem.

## Input contract

```yaml
required: [problem_statement, observations, scope_constraints]
optional: [existing_theories, analogies, anomaly_records]
constraints: [each hypothesis must imply a differentiating prediction or assumption]
```

## Procedure

1. Extract the target phenomenon and unresolved explanatory gap.
2. Generate mechanismally distinct explanations, including a null or status-quo hypothesis.
3. Translate each explanation into predictions, assumptions, and disconfirming observations.
4. Deduplicate equivalent explanations and retain the comparison set.

If competing hypotheses have explicit predictions and evidence links, consider `score-object` as the next tactic.

## Output contract

```yaml
produces: [hypothesis_set, mechanism_descriptions, prediction_set, assumption_register]
delta_fields: [hypothesis_updates, uncertainties, open_questions, recommended_jumps]
```

## Quality gates

- Hypotheses differ in mechanism or prediction, not wording only.
- A null or baseline explanation is considered where applicable.

## Failure and counterexamples

Do not generate unfalsifiable narratives or discard inconvenient hypotheses before comparison.

## Provenance map

- `resolved: generate-competing-hypotheses`