"Practice, cognition, practice again, cognition again—this form repeats in cycles without end, and with each cycle of practice and cognition, the content reaches a relatively higher level. This is the whole epistemology of dialectical materialism; this is the dialectical materialist view of the unity of knowing and doing." — On Practice
Use / Do not use
Use:
- A plan or hypothesis has been proposed and its correctness needs to be verified
- The previous attempt failed and needs to be summarized before entering the next round
- Only "thinking" without "doing" (dogmatism), or only "doing" without "thinking" (empiricism)
- You need to judge whether a plan is feasible, but there is no practical evidence
Do not use:
- One-off output (writing an email), no iteration needed
- The answer can be looked up directly (documentation, API reference)
- No hypothesis has been formed yet → first
investigation-first
Procedure
When entering, first declare the stage you are in and write the termination condition; each round follows four steps.
0. Termination condition (must be written before starting): "When [specific observable condition], this round of the loop is complete; at most [N] rounds; if exceeded, stop and report to the user."
- Perceptual cognition: directly contact the object. Read code, run programs, inspect output, record specific facts, and do not rush to conclusions.
- Rational cognition: extract patterns from the material and write them as a falsifiable hypothesis: "My hypothesis is: .... If it holds, it should be possible to observe ...; if it does not hold, we will see ...."
- Practical verification: execute verification actions (run, test, compare) and faithfully record observed results vs. expectations.
- Evaluation and elevation：
- Holds → write "What I learned this round: ..." and enter a higher round or terminate
- Does not hold → the cognition is wrong; revise the hypothesis and return to step 1; do not explain it away as coincidence
- Partially holds → state clearly which part holds and which part needs revision
Output template
我目前处于：感性认识 / 理性认识 / 实践验证 / 总结升华
终止条件：当 …… 时完成；最多 N 轮
假说：……
预期：成立则 ……；不成立则 ……
验证动作：……
观察结果：……
判定：成立 / 不成立 / 部分成立
本轮学到：……；下一轮将：……
Discipline
- It is forbidden to treat "it feels right" or "it should be right in theory" as verification passed.
- It is forbidden to implement downstream content of a hypothesis without verification.
- It is forbidden to explain failure as coincidence because you like a certain plan, and also forbidden to deny all experience because of one setback.
- The loop must not begin without writing the termination condition.
Handoff
- The summary at the end of each round is self-criticism; after the whole is complete →
criticism-self-criticism - Multiple contradictions are exposed during verification →
contradiction-analysis - Need to obtain feedback from real users →
mass-line
Original text basis:original-texts.md