Master phenomenological methodology - describing structures of experience. Use for: analyzing lived experience, consciousness, intentionality. Triggers: 'phenomenology', 'phenomenological', 'epoche', 'bracketing', 'Husserl', 'lived experience', 'intentionality', 'eidetic', 'reduction', 'life-world', 'Lebenswelt', 'noesis', 'noema', 'first-person', 'experience as lived'.
Design, analyze, and evaluate philosophical thought experiments. Use when: creating new thought experiments to probe specific intuitions, analyzing existing thought experiments for hidden assumptions, generating variants that isolate different variables, stress-testing philosophical positions through scenarios, exploring edge cases. Triggers: 'thought experiment', 'imagine', 'suppose', 'hypothetical', 'what if scenario', 'intuition pump', 'trolley problem', 'zombie', 'Mary's room', 'Chinese room', 'experience machine', 'teletransportation', 'original position', 'veil of ignorance', 'Gettier case'.
Independent thinking framework using first-principles reasoning to break down problems, evaluate opinions, make decisions, and find truth without relying on authority, social proof, or conventional wisdom. Use when Claude needs to: (1) Analyze problems from fundamental truths instead of accepting assumptions, (2) Evaluate arguments and opinions to identify logical fallacies and hidden premises, (3) Make decisions based on first principles rather than following others, (4) Cut through controversial debates to find underlying truths, (5) Think independently instead of accepting conventional wisdom
Master philosophy of language - meaning, reference, truth, speech acts. Use for: semantics, pragmatics, meaning theory, reference. Triggers: 'meaning', 'reference', 'Frege', 'sense', 'Kripke', 'speech act', 'semantics', 'pragmatics', 'truth conditions', 'propositions', 'names', 'descriptions', 'rigid designator', 'natural kind', 'context', 'indexical'.
Understand how ideas evolved over time to find old solutions for new problems and avoid repeating past failures
Use when facing complex problems that need multi-perspective analysis, when stuck in one way of thinking, or when you want to approach a problem like an expert from a different field would
Force unrelated concepts together to discover emergent properties - "What if we treated X like Y?"
Master Continental philosophy and Critical Theory. Use for: post-structuralism, deconstruction, Frankfurt School, hermeneutics, psychoanalysis. Triggers: 'Foucault', 'power/knowledge', 'deconstruction', 'Derrida', 'différance', 'critical theory', 'Frankfurt School', 'Adorno', 'Habermas', 'genealogy', 'discourse', 'Lacan', 'Deleuze', 'rhizome', 'biopolitics', 'ideology', 'alienation', 'reification', 'hermeneutics', 'Gadamer', 'post-structuralism', 'logocentrism'.
Flip core assumptions to reveal hidden constraints and alternative approaches - "what if the opposite were true?"
Master ethical theory - metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. Use for: moral philosophy, right/wrong, virtue, duty, consequences, moral realism. Triggers: 'moral', 'ethical', 'ethics', 'right', 'wrong', 'virtue', 'duty', 'consequences', 'deontology', 'utilitarianism', 'virtue ethics', 'metaethics', 'moral realism', 'consequentialism', 'Kantian', 'categorical imperative', 'trolley problem', 'moral dilemma'.
Reframe problems using Scott Adams' philosophy from "Reframe Your Brain". User describes a problem, concern, or situation and gets sardonic, pragmatic perspective shifts with actionable steps and custom affirmations.
Cognitive trap detection and logic fallacy identification. Use when making decisions, evaluating approaches, risk assessment, or detecting faulty reasoning in arguments.
This skill should be used when users question their philosophical stance, their language contradicts their declared epistemology, they are moving between stages and want to verify coherence, mentions 'assumptions', 'examine', 'coherent', 'consistent', or something feels 'off' about their analytical approach.
Adapt instructional design to regional pedagogical traditions including Confucian, Socratic, Guru-shishya, Ubuntu, and Indigenous approaches. Apply culturally-appropriate teaching methodologies. Use when designing for specific cultural contexts. Activates on "pedagogical tradition", "teaching philosophy", or "cultural pedagogy".
Flip core assumptions to reveal hidden constraints and alternative approaches - "what if the opposite were true?"
Master genealogical methodology - Nietzschean and Foucauldian genealogy of concepts and practices. Use for: historical analysis, power, origins of concepts. Triggers: 'genealogy', 'genealogical', 'Nietzsche genealogy', 'Foucault', 'archaeology', 'power knowledge', 'origin of', 'history of', 'emergence', 'descent', 'Entstehung', 'Herkunft', 'moral history'.
Force unrelated concepts together to discover emergent properties - "What if we treated X like Y?"
Force unrelated concepts together to discover emergent properties - "What if we treated X like Y?"
3 questions for genuine reflection before work closure. Hard gate on non-empty.
Master political philosophy - justice, rights, liberty, democracy, state legitimacy. Use for: justice, political authority, rights, freedom, social contract. Triggers: 'justice', 'political', 'rights', 'liberty', 'freedom', 'democracy', 'Rawls', 'social contract', 'state', 'legitimacy', 'authority', 'equality', 'libertarianism', 'distributive justice', 'liberalism', 'communitarianism', 'republicanism'.
