{
  "handle": "Dialectic",
  "mechanism": "Internal reasoning process where an agent pits a thesis against an antithesis to generate a {{synthesis}}. Unlike Socratic questioning (which queries the user), Dialectic queries a simulated critic persona within the agent's own context. It instantiates a {{perspective_ensemble}} where one voice holds the thesis and another uses {{steelman_check}} to construct the antithesis.",
  "gloss": "Internal Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis loop",
  "failure_modes": [
    "Budget exhausted: the `rounds` cap is reached with neither a synthesis nor a refutation.",
    "Strawman critic: the antithesis is too weak to improve the thesis. Low `temperature` produces this by setting."
  ],
  "invariants": [
    "Terminates in a {{synthesis}} naming the contradiction it resolves, or a refutation naming the one that defeated the thesis.",
    "The antithesis identifies the specific claim of the thesis it contradicts."
  ],
  "preconditions": [
    "Initial Thesis generated"
  ],
  "postconditions": [
    "Either a refined {{synthesis}} naming what it resolved, or a refutation naming what defeated the thesis"
  ],
  "parameters": [
    {
      "name": "rounds",
      "type": "Integer",
      "range": "[1, 5]",
      "description": "Number of thesis-antithesis-synthesis cycles"
    },
    {
      "name": "temperature",
      "type": "Float",
      "range": "[0.0, 1.0]",
      "description": "Divergence of antithesis generation (0 = conservative, 1 = radical)"
    }
  ],
  "_meta": {
    "tier": 2,
    "ring": 2,
    "supersedes": [
      "sema:Dialectic#mh:SHA-256:bc186b7126746e11187381e73aa67e712c6f0cfb87e47fd3ef9b090a60bee242",
      "sema:Dialectic#mh:SHA-256:b5d0c3323ef5308f052db0f1393e1779e954248178a8365a2c3f754d149528e1",
      "sema:Dialectic#mh:SHA-256:6eda97b37a3b5c219371d54b34532ffe19f5cb965307c68fbb54ce77f56dfcef",
      "sema:Dialectic#mh:SHA-256:ae5e838272a716687f09d85a399840d9af330e7c17ae21426bcd0176b50afd54"
    ],
    "path": [
      "Mind",
      "Reasoning"
    ],
    "related": [
      "Twinread#c4a5"
    ]
  },
  "sema_id": "sema:Dialectic#mh:SHA-256:26bec9ea9924523af3aa4d24165e4131dfe2ca964a54cee6a7a12cd391bb8aec",
  "sema_ref": "Dialectic#26be",
  "sema_stub": "26be",
  "dependencies": {
    "composes_with": {
      "steelman_check": "sema:SteelmanCheck#mh:SHA-256:b004eb6d85a184da7f9bb7fc06d011bc869f6eb6ad1061f30cbbbcc4c2b8f6aa"
    },
    "references": {
      "perspective_ensemble": "sema:PerspectiveEnsemble#mh:SHA-256:4afd1d6c7abb339c91b3bd94f791e2f57638e9a8c5431757d2c7ae1d6ce8545d",
      "synthesis": "sema:Synthesis#mh:SHA-256:4f1fecba4183e6a79bfb3bd8f1981a6b6fb9f3dced92a484a9aa466c93ae249b"
    }
  },
  "sema_layer": "Mind",
  "sema_category": "Reasoning",
  "used_by": {
    "references": {
      "SocraticLoop": "sema:SocraticLoop#mh:SHA-256:4f17ec8b7e28b3f223931274df090225572d754cd772fe4f738c922f16f93a18",
      "Tension": "sema:Tension#mh:SHA-256:40e5946b8186e342a8bcbcf3e1ec0339c1c457d1d5a2bdd83689ad700ab1820a",
      "TensionHold": "sema:TensionHold#mh:SHA-256:b220760e24a7814387f787ab1274c6ab6a57f0ba3e9844d9f8b0fb234d14a934",
      "Twinread": "sema:Twinread#mh:SHA-256:c4a5556a1ac0ef14fc2eadcff00c93689f1e28a873c837cfcdaede91f59407bc"
    }
  }
}