dialectic-press

name	dialectic-press
description	Transform dialectic outputs into essays — meso-level AI-assisted writing with structural recipes. Use after completing a dialectic when you want to turn the analysis into a publishable essay that exposes both the insight and the method.

Dialectic Press

Transform dialectic outputs into polished essays — AI-assisted writing at "meso" abstraction with a structural recipe at the end.

When to Use

• You've completed a dialectic and want to turn it into a shareable essay
• The dialectic produced genuine insight — a reframing, a hidden question, a synthesis
• You want the essay to be pleasurable, not just summarizable
• You want to expose the method (the recipe) so readers can apply similar moves

The Method

1. Provocation/Hook — Concrete phenomenon that illustrates something larger
2. Reframing via analogy — Map onto a well-understood system from another domain
3. Conceptual currency — Coin precise terms that do load-bearing work
4. Structural unpacking — Decompose into layers, phases, or tensions
5. Implications/Stakes — What follows if the reframing is correct?
6. Recipe — Expose the generative moves as imperative verbs

What makes this different:

• Meso-level density — more detail than humans hold unassisted, less than AI handles autonomously
• Structural transparency — the recipe says "here's how the sausage was made"
• Human brings the moves — reframe, unpack, trace propagation, coin term
• AI executes at density — fills implications, generates prose holding many threads

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Process Overview

This is an interactive workshop, not an autonomous pipeline. Each phase ends with a checkpoint where the user validates or redirects.

Phase 0: Intent       → User establishes what they want to write about
Phase 1: Inventory    → User confirms: "These are the key elements"
Phase 2: Analogy      → User picks from candidate analogies
Phase 3: Concepts     → User validates which terms do work
Phase 4: Outline      → User approves arc before writing
Phase 5: Write & Validate → Draft produced, cleaned, validated, user reviews

IMPORTANT: Read each phase file only when you reach that phase. Do not read ahead. This keeps instructions fresh in context and prevents skipping checkpoints.

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Starting the Process

1. Ask the user which dialectic they want to draw from
2. Read phases/0-intent.md
3. Execute Phase 0 — establish what they actually want to write (may differ from dialectic topic)
4. Only after user confirms intent, read phases/1-inventory.md
5. Continue phase by phase

The user can intervene at any checkpoint — redirecting, adding constraints, or returning to an earlier phase.

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Phase Files

• phases/0-intent.md — Establish what the essay is actually about
• phases/1-inventory.md — Survey dialectic outputs, identify key elements
• phases/2-analogy.md — Find and propose analogical domains
• phases/3-concepts.md — Coin and validate conceptual currency
• phases/4-outline.md — Map material onto the essay arc
• phases/5-write.md — Write, validate, and finalize

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Recipe Variations

Style	When to Use
Numbered conceptual moves	Essay follows a clear build-up sequence
Process description	Work was more exploratory ("scan → reframe → structure → style")
Co-authoring protocol	Want to expose the human-AI collaboration
Honest mess	Process was genuinely messy