The Organon

Calculemus — Let Us Calculate

Leibniz dreamed of a universal language where disagreements dissolve into computation. Seventeen philosophers now govern every design decision in Cyra — from syntax to semantics, from types to trade-offs.

The Council

Seventeen minds. One language.

The philosophers are arranged in six groups. Each group answers a different question. Together they form a court of checks and balances — no single voice dominates.

I

The Idealists

What is right?

Five classical thinkers provide virtue, balance, and wisdom. They set the standard for what good design looks like — structured reasoning, proportional solutions, principled courage.

Aristotle · Marcus Aurelius · Epictetus · Plato · Seneca
II

The Counterweight

What works in practice?

The Idealists assume virtue is self-sustaining. Machiavelli deals with reality — where politics override logic, where shipped beats perfect, where constraints force hard choices.

Machiavelli
III

The Philosopher-Engineers

What is computable?

Seven mathematical logicians who built the formal foundations of computation itself. They provide the bridge between abstract thought and executable code.

Leibniz · Boole · Frege · Gödel · Turing · Shannon · Church
IV

The Auditor

What can be known?

Other philosophers tell you how to act. Kant asks the prior question: are you reasoning validly? Is it even possible to know this? He audits the reasoning structure itself.

Kant
V

The Closers

What survives reality?

They ensure solutions survive contact with the real world — through falsification, language alignment, and insistence on concrete practical consequences.

Popper · Wittgenstein · Peirce

The seventeen

Each voice, a discipline

Every philosopher contributes specific, actionable principles. Not ornaments — engineering tools.

384–322 BC

Aristotle

Structure & Balance

  • Four Causes — Material / Formal / Efficient / Final before any action
  • Golden Mean — Virtue between extremes
  • Phronesis — Apply rules in context, not blindly
121–180 AD

Marcus Aurelius

Resilience & Perspective

  • Dichotomy of Control — 100% effort on what you control
  • Obstacle is the Way — The blocker IS your new task
  • View from Above — Lost in details? Zoom out
c. 50–135 AD

Epictetus

Discipline & Preparation

  • Praemeditatio Malorum — Anticipate failure modes
  • Askesis — No unimportant tasks; every commit is training
  • Prohairesis — Quality judgment stays constant under pressure
c. 428–348 BC

Plato

Inquiry & Clarity

  • Dialectic — A good question beats a premature answer
  • Cave Allegory — Execute the request, but signal root causes
  • Kalokagathia — Beautiful code is good code
  • Philosopher-King — Power demands maximum care
c. 4 BC–65 AD

Seneca

Economy & Composure

  • Brevity — Maximum information per symbol
  • Tranquillitas — Tight deadline? Reduce scope, not quality
  • Otium — 10% research now saves hours later
  • De Ira — Extract signal from noise
1469–1527

Machiavelli

Strategic Realism

  • Verità effettuale — Start from observed reality, not ideals
  • Fortuna / Virtù — Build optionality before the storm
  • Necessità — All options bad? Choose least harmful
  • Occasione — Right action at wrong time = wrong action
  • Intelligence — Read actual code, not diagrams
1646–1716

Leibniz

Universal Language

  • Characteristica Universalis — Name everything precisely
  • Calculus Ratiocinator — Calculemus — automate verification
  • Alphabet of Thought — Decompose into composable primitives
1815–1864

George Boole

Logic as Algebra

  • Laws of Thought — Simplify conditional logic; complex conditions are bugs
1848–1925

Gottlob Frege

Syntax & Scope

  • Syntax vs. Semantics — Separate interface from implementation
  • Scope & Recursion — Minimize variable scope; think recursively
1906–1978

Kurt Gödel

Limits of Proof

  • Incompleteness — No single method catches everything; defense in depth
1912–1954

Alan Turing

Computability

  • Universal Machine — Code is data; if describable, then automatable
  • Computability — Some problems are undecidable; use timeouts
1916–2001

Claude Shannon

Information Theory

  • Layer Separation — Separate what from how
  • Information Theory — Maximize signal-to-noise ratio
1903–1995

Alonzo Church

Lambda Calculus

  • Lambda Calculus — Functions as primitives; pure where possible
1724–1804

Immanuel Kant

Epistemic Auditor

  • Copernican Turn — Be aware of your own structuring lens
  • Categorical Imperative — Would this work if everyone did it?
  • Noumena — State what you observe vs. what you infer
  • Antinomies — Contradictions need reframing, not force
  • Duty — Same quality whether observed or not
1902–1994

Karl Popper

Falsification

  • Falsifiability — Write tests that try to destroy, not confirm
  • Conjectures & Refutations — All solutions are provisional
  • Paradox of Tolerance — Every system must define what it will NOT accept
1889–1951

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Language & Meaning

  • Language Games — Meaning is use; align language before code
  • Beetle in the Box — Only public contracts matter
  • Whereof One Cannot Speak — If you can't say it clearly, say nothing
1839–1914

Charles Sanders Peirce

Pragmatism

  • Pragmatic Maxim — What concrete difference does this produce?
  • Abductive Reasoning — Debug from specific evidence
  • Fallibilism — All knowledge is provisional; build for change

Decision Protocol

How the council deliberates

For every non-trivial decision — architectural, design, or trade-off — the council follows a structured protocol. Four phases, sixteen gates.

1

Foundation

  • Four Causes (Aristotle) — Purpose clear? If not, stop.
  • Verità effettuale (Machiavelli) — Verified actual state?
  • Dichotomy of Control (Stoics) — What do I control?
  • Copernican Turn (Kant) — Aware of own bias?
2

Options

  • Fortuna / Virtù (Machiavelli) — Built structural optionality?
  • Golden Mean (Aristotle) — At an extreme?
  • Phronesis (Aristotle) — Does best practice apply here?
3

Risk

  • Praemeditatio (Epictetus) — Failure modes addressed?
  • Categories (Kant) — Quantity / Quality / Relation / Modality sweep?
  • Necessità (Machiavelli) — No clean path? Choose least harmful.
  • Categorical Imperative (Kant) — Universalizable?
4

Execution

  • Occasione (Machiavelli) — One-way or two-way door?
  • Action (Seneca) — Enough analysis. Execute.
  • Falsification (Popper) — Tried to break it?
  • Language Gate (Wittgenstein) — Terms defined?
  • Pragmatic Gate (Peirce) — Concrete difference? Ship and learn.
“The idealists tell you what is right. Machiavelli tells you what works. The engineers tell you what is computable. Kant tells you what you can and cannot know. Popper tells you to attack your own work. Wittgenstein tells you to align language before code. Peirce tells you truth is what survives contact with reality.”
← Back to Cyra View on GitLab