Question-driven reasoning based on Koralus's Erotetic Theory. USE WHEN erotetic, question-driven reasoning, enumerate alternatives, check reasoning, reasoning audit, fallacy check, what am I not considering, stable conclusion.
Question-driven reasoning grounded in Philipp Koralus's Erotetic Theory of Reasoning (Oxford, 2023). Forces explicit alternative enumeration, systematic question-raising, and equilibrium checking before settling on conclusions.
Core insight: The same mechanism that produces valid reasoning also produces fallacies — the variable is how many questions you raise before settling. More questions → closer to erotetic equilibrium → convergence with classical validity, probabilistic coherence, and expected utility maximization.
How it differs from other thinking approaches:
| Workflow | Trigger | File |
|---|---|---|
| Reason | "think through this erotetically", "what am I not considering", "enumerate alternatives", "question-driven analysis" | Workflows/Reason.md |
| Audit | "audit this reasoning", "check for fallacies", "is this conclusion stable", "erotetic audit" | Workflows/Audit.md |
The Erotetic Reasoning Loop:
ETR-Predicted Fallacies (what to watch for):
Example 1: Strategic decision
User: "Should I raise prices 20%? Think through this erotetically."
→ Invokes Reason workflow
→ Enumerates: price stays / +10% / +20% / +30% / restructure pricing / freemium shift
→ Raises questions: What's the churn elasticity? What do competitors charge?
→ Filters alternatives based on available evidence
→ Checks equilibrium: "Is +20% stable if I ask one more question?"
→ Returns structured analysis with equilibrium assessment
Example 2: Audit existing reasoning
User: "I concluded we should use microservices. Audit this reasoning."
→ Invokes Audit workflow
→ Identifies: What alternatives were considered? (monolith, modular monolith, serverless?)
→ Checks: Was this a best-match latch without enumeration?
→ Tests equilibrium: Does "microservices" survive the question "what's our team size?"
→ Returns fallacy classification and stability assessment
Example 3: Combined with other skills
User: "Red team this idea, but use erotetic reasoning"
→ Invoke adversarial analysis with Erotetic as the reasoning framework
→ Each agent enumerates alternatives and raises questions
→ Equilibrium check on the steelman and counter-argument
Other skills can invoke Erotetic reasoning:
## Before Concluding
→ Use Erotetic/Reason to enumerate alternatives you haven't considered
→ Use Erotetic/Audit to check if your conclusion is stable
## When Stuck
→ Use Erotetic/Reason — the bottleneck is usually an unasked question
## For High-Stakes Decisions
→ Adversarial analysis + Erotetic: attack with explicit alternative enumeration
→ First Principles + Erotetic: deconstruct, then question every reconstruction