# SKEPTIC SCRATCH ARTIFACT -- Per-Claim Reasoning Record

**Purpose:** Capture the authentic skeptic reasoning BEFORE queries are issued and the per-query rationale FOR each query. This is the Anti-Theater Check 1 record consumed by the Phase 9 Evaluator.

**Not a generative template.** This file records *reasoning*. It does not supply inversion queries. Any instance where the "skeptic frame" and "per-query rationale" fields contain boilerplate, generic language, or content reused verbatim across unrelated claims is a procedural-theater signal.

---

## Instance identity

- `run_id`: <string>
- `claim_id`: <from S5 claim decomposition artifact>
- `claim_text`: <verbatim atomic claim from S5>
- `claim_type`: <from S5>
- `discipline`: <from S3 / orchestrator context>
- `confirmatory_finding_ref`: <handoff artifact path>

---

## Skeptic frame (answer BEFORE generating queries)

Each answer 1-3 sentences. Generic answers are rejected; the Evaluator audits for boilerplate reuse across claims.

**Q1. Who is the authentic skeptic for this claim?**
- `role`: <specific role, e.g., "replication-crisis researcher in clinical trial methodology"; NOT "a critic" or "a domain expert">
- `why_this_role`: <what this role's prior commitments make them motivated to disprove THIS claim>

**Q2. What world-state would have to be true for the claim to be wrong?**
- `boundary_condition`: <stated in the skeptic's terms, not the confirmatory finding's terms>

**Q3. What alternative explanation produces the same confirmatory evidence?**
- `alternative_explanation`: <name a specific confounder / artifact / selection effect / common-cause structure, specific enough that it generates its own search terms>

**Q4. What replication / adjacent-setting failure mode is most plausible?**
- `replication_failure_hypothesis`: <concrete adjacent context where the claim is known to collapse or has not been tested>

**If any of Q1-Q4 returns "none / not applicable":** escalate to Surprise Register as meta-anomaly candidate (D1 trigger). A claim no authentic skeptic would challenge is suspicious. Do NOT proceed to query generation.

---

## Per-query rationale log (Anti-Theater Check 1 record)

One row per generated inversion query. Populate BEFORE query submission to S1. Entries with boilerplate or generic rationale are discarded and regenerated.

| query_id | inversion_class | query_text | why_authentic_skeptic_issues_this | which_Q_it_derives_from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| <uuid> | IC-1 \| IC-2 \| IC-3 \| IC-4 | <query text> | <1-3 sentences: the specific skeptic-frame reasoning that makes this query worth issuing in THIS discipline for THIS claim; NOT "looking for counter-evidence"> | Q1 \| Q2 \| Q3 \| Q4 |

**Discard conditions for a row (regenerate the query):**
- `why_authentic_skeptic_issues_this` is generic ("to find disconfirmation," "to search for contradictions").
- `query_text` is a predicate negation of the confirmatory query.
- The same `query_text` or near-paraphrase already appears in this skill's scratch artifact for another unrelated claim.
- The row does not cite a specific Q in `which_Q_it_derives_from`.

---

## Coverage scratchpad

One row per inversion class. Updated after each query.

| inversion_class | status | query_ids | disconfirmation_categories_surfaced | saturation_counter_K | class_closed_reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IC-1 | exercised \| non-applicable \| in-progress | <list> | <category ids or []> | <integer> | saturated \| non-applicable-<reason> \| open |
| IC-2 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| IC-3 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| IC-4 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |

---

## Recursion record (if this scratch was entered via sub-inquiry recursion)

- `parent_claim_id`: <claim whose adversarial pass generated the sub-inquiry>
- `parent_surprise_register_entry_id`: <SR entry that opened this sub-inquiry>
- `recursion_depth`: <integer>
- `ledger_recursion_trace_id`: <Ledger reference proving the recursion is traced>

---

## Close-out

- `exit_disposition`: `defensibly-closed` | `contradictions-outstanding` | `meta-anomaly`
- `timestamp_closed_utc`: <ISO-8601>
- `linked_output_record`: <path to DEFENSIBLE_NOTHING_FOUND_RECORD.md instance OR contradiction bundle path>
