The Lexicon

The language of decision examination.

Canonical definitions for the vocabulary of decision examination. Each term has one authoritative entry: what it means, why it matters, what it is commonly mistaken for, and how it relates to the rest of the language. Definitions only — the examination method itself is not published here.

Terms

• Decision Examination Decision Examination is the practice of making the reasoning behind a consequential decision inspectable before commitment, without recommending what the decision-maker should choose.
• Reasoning Ledger A Reasoning Ledger records what is known, assumed, uncertain, unsupported, and unresolved before a decision is made.
• Evidence Gap An Evidence Gap is a mismatch between the support warranted by a material claim's role in the reasoning and the support currently available for it — not proof that the claim is false.
• Confidence Calibration Confidence Calibration is the judgement of whether confidence in a claim is proportionate to the strength and limits of the support currently available for it.
• Decision Readiness Decision Readiness is the judgement that the reasoning behind a decision has been examined to a degree proportionate to the decision's stakes, reversibility, and present conditions — not a measure of certainty or a verdict on what to choose.

How this lexicon works — Lexicon Principles.