Filling Out the Case Form — A Manual for the CDV/DTI Reference Suite v0.5.4
Filling Out the Case Form — A Manual for the CDV/DTI Reference Suite v0.5.4
Theoretical foundations: Grant C. Sterling (Eastern Illinois University). Analysis and synthesis: Dave Kelly. Prose rendering: Claude (Anthropic). 2026.
The Beginning
Everyone wants happiness. Incomplete happiness is not worth accepting if complete happiness is available. Complete happiness must therefore lie wholly within our control. Only assent lies wholly within our control. Happiness is therefore correct assent, correct when it matches the truth about value. The truth about value is that only virtue is good and only vice is evil. Everything else is indifferent.
Everything in this manual follows from that. The case form is where you set down, in writing, the facts of a situation and the judgments you are making about it. The instrument then checks those judgments against Sterling’s system and keeps a record. It never decides for you. Only you can assent (SLE Prop 11).
What the Form Is For
The form is for a person under pressure at work: pressure to treat a target, a client, an approval or a job as a good, and to accept an “appropriate” response that is really compliance with that false valuation.
It does two things for him:
- It protects his assent. Writing down what was asked, separating the fact from the value claimed for it, and marking each judgment plainly is what keeps a man from sliding into compliance.
- It keeps a record. The record holds what he was told, what he knew, how he judged it, and what he decided, all dated. It is made at the time, not reconstructed later.
When to fill it out. Fill it out as soon as you can after the request, and when you are calm enough to write plainly. The form is not for the instant of pressure. No one screens his impressions in real time (The Corpus as a Thinking System, clause (a)). It is for the hours between the request and your decision. If the fitting act is already plain, as when someone is in danger, act first and fill out the form afterward (The Occasion Router, Section VI).
The Rules of the Form
The instrument is deterministic: the same form always gives the same record. To make that possible, the form follows strict rules.
- Two kinds of field. A read field takes one value from a fixed list, and the instrument judges it. A record field is free text in double quotes, and the instrument keeps it but never judges it.
- Exact values. Write read values exactly as listed, in capitals: VERIFIED, not verified or yes.
- Quotes on record fields. Every record field is wrapped in double quotes: FROM: "Helen Ward".
- Identifiers. Every item has an ID with a fixed prefix: REQ_ for requests, F_ for facts, V_ for what is at stake, R_ for roles, C_ for conflicts, A_ for aims, ACT_ for actions. Where one item refers to another, use its ID, never a name.
- Dates. Write dates as year-month-day: 2026-09-30.
- Comments. A line beginning with # is a comment. Comments must stand on their own lines.
If any rule is broken, the run stops and names the line and the fault. Nothing is judged until the form is well formed. This is deliberate: the instrument never guesses what you meant.
Section by Section
CASE
Give the case a short ID, your name, the date you fill out the form, and one factual sentence saying what the situation is. State the situation plainly, without adjectives. “My manager asked me to move the trust’s holdings into the bank’s funds,” not “My manager is pressuring me to do something terrible.”
CASE TRUST_FUNDS_2026: PREPARED_BY: "J. Doe, trust officer" DATE: 2026-09-30 SITUATION: "My manager told me to move a family trust's holdings into the bank's own higher-fee funds."
REQUEST
This is what you are being pressed to do. Record it exactly, while it is fresh:
- the date it was made;
- who made it, and your relationship to that person;
- who else was present;
- the words, as nearly as you can recall them;
- the reason given.
The words and the reason given are where the false valuation usually lives: “we’re behind on the quarter,” “everyone’s jobs are on the line.” You record them here without judging them. You judge them in AT_STAKE.
If no one asked you to do anything, and the decision is your own, leave the REQUEST section out.
FACTS
List what you believe is the case, one fact per item, each marked with its status:
- VERIFIED: you have checked it yourself, or you hold a document that settles it.
- UNVERIFIED: you have not checked it. Anything you know only because someone told you belongs here, including what the person pressing you says. “It’s within policy” is UNVERIFIED until you have read the policy.
- DISPUTED: your sources disagree.
Under HOW_VERIFIED, say how you know it, or how you will check it. An action that depends on an unverified fact is marked PENDING until the fact is checked (The Occasion Router, Section VI).
Keep facts apart from values. “The bank’s funds charge higher fees” is a fact. “Losing the client would be a disaster” is not a fact. It goes in AT_STAKE.
AT_STAKE
This is the heart of the form. List everything you feel is at stake, and mark each item with two values.
First, where it lies. Ask: is this my own act of will, or is it something that could be taken from me?
- MY_CHOICE: your own judging and choosing, such as your honesty in what you sign, or your loyalty to those you serve (SLE Prop 16).
- EXTERNAL: everything else, including your job, your income, your reputation, the company’s survival, and other people’s health and safety (SLE Props 18–19).
Second, its value: GOOD, EVIL, PREFERRED, DISPREFERRED or INDIFFERENT.
Mark it as you actually judge it now, not as you think you should. If the loss of your job feels like a disaster, mark it EVIL. The instrument checks the case as you classify it, and it can only show you what you have written down. When it finds a judgment false, it says so and quotes the proposition:
- an external marked GOOD or EVIL is false (SLE Prop 20);
- something in your own choice marked indifferent is false, because good and evil lie there and nowhere else (SLE Props 16–17).
Correcting the mark is your own assent. When you have corrected it, change the form and run it again. Keep both records: the first shows how the pressure looked to you, and the second shows how you corrected it.
ROLES
A role comes from an actual relationship you stand in, not from a job title, a charter or a document, and not from the relationship you would prefer (SLE Prop 65). For each role, give:
- its name;
- the relationship, and to whom;
- the duty it carries;
- the manner it requires.
Include every role the situation actually touches. If the pressure works through your fear for your family’s income, your role as provider is part of the case and belongs here.
CONFLICTS
Fill in a conflict only where two of your roles pull you in different directions in this case. Answer six questions. The instrument applies them in order and stops at the first one that decides (SLE Expansion 1; Props 69–70). The roles are named FIRST and SECOND in the order you list them.
- EXISTS_WITHOUT_FIRST / EXISTS_WITHOUT_SECOND (YES or NO). If you did not hold that role, would this conflict still exist? Where one answer is NO and the other YES, the role whose removal ends the conflict governs.
- DELAY_IRREVERSIBLE. If a duty were delayed, would the loss be permanent? A surgery happens once; an inspection can be booked for the next day.
- CAN_DO_FIRST_THEN_RESUME. Whose duty can be done first, with the other taken up afterward?
- HELD_BECAUSE_OF_OTHER. Do you hold one of these roles only because you hold the other? Name the dependent one.
- GREATER_WRONG_IF_FAILED. Which failure would be the greater wrong in your own will?
- MORE_DEPENDENT_PEOPLE. Whose people depend on you more for their basic welfare?
The role that yields is not abandoned. Its duties come after, as far as they can be honored (SLE Prop 70).
AIMS
An aim is what an action aims at: the beneficiaries’ welfare, the building’s safety, your household’s income. A sound aim is always PREFERRED: aimed at, never held as a good (SLE Props 22, 60).
Mark it as you actually hold it. If you are holding “keeping the contract” as a good, mark it GOOD, and the instrument will show you what that does to any action aimed at it.
ACTIONS
List every option you are weighing. Always include the action you are being pressed to take, with PRESSED_BY set to the ID of the request, such as REQ_01. Every other action takes PRESSED_BY: NONE. Each action takes:
- ROLE and AIM: the IDs of the role it serves and what it aims at.
- RESERVATION: TRUE if you hold it with the reservation if it can be done, ready for the outcome to go otherwise. FALSE if you are staking yourself on the result (SLE Prop 62).
- DEPENDS_ON: the facts and the at-stake items the action rests on. Be honest. If you would take this action because you fear the loss of the contract, list that item.
- VICES: any vice the action involves. The list is closed to the four contraries of the four virtues:
- FOLLY: judging falsely, when you could judge truly.
- INJUSTICE: wronging others, including deceit, disloyalty, bad faith and partiality.
- COWARDICE: giving up what is right to stay safe.
- INTEMPERANCE: letting an impulse run you.
- DESC and MEANS: what you would choose to do, and how.
DECISION
This section is yours alone, and the instrument never fills it. Leave it out until you have decided. Then record the date, the ID of the action you assent to, or WITHHELD, and a note: what you did, when, and what you kept.
If you assent to an action the gates failed, the record keeps your decision and notes the finding. It does not override you.
The Blank Form
This is the blank form the instrument prints. Copy it, replace each placeholder, and delete any section you do not need (REQUEST, CONFLICTS, or DECISION until you have decided).
# CASE FORM -- CDV/DTI v0.5.4
# The beginning: only virtue is good, only vice is evil; everything else
# is indifferent. You fill out this form and you alone assent. The
# instrument checks the case as you classify it. It never decides for you.
# [READ] fields take one value from the list shown. [RECORD] fields are a
# quoted string, kept and never judged. Comments must be on their own lines.
CASE CASE_ID:
PREPARED_BY: "<name>"
DATE: YYYY-MM-DD
SITUATION: "<one factual sentence>"
# What you are being pressed to do. Leave the section out if nothing was asked.
REQUEST:
REQ_01:
DATE: YYYY-MM-DD
FROM: "<name>"
RELATIONSHIP: "<e.g. my manager>"
WITNESSES: "<names, or none>"
WORDS: "<exactly what was said or written>"
REASON_GIVEN: "<the reason offered>"
# F_ID: [VERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | DISPUTED]
FACTS:
F_01: [VERIFIED]
TEXT: "<the fact>"
HOW_VERIFIED: "<source, or how you will check it>"
# V_ID: [GOOD | EVIL | PREFERRED | DISPREFERRED | INDIFFERENT, MY_CHOICE | EXTERNAL]
AT_STAKE:
V_01: [PREFERRED, EXTERNAL]
TEXT: "<what you feel is at stake>"
# Roles come from your actual relationships (SLE Prop 65).
ROLES:
R_01:
NAME: "<e.g. administrator of the trust>"
RELATIONSHIP: "<to whom>"
DUTY: "<what the role requires of you>"
MANNER: "<e.g. honest, loyal>"
# Only where two roles pull apart. Answers:
# EXISTS_WITHOUT_FIRST / _SECOND: YES | NO
# (if you did not hold that role, would this conflict still exist?)
# DELAY_IRREVERSIBLE: FIRST | SECOND | BOTH | NEITHER
# CAN_DO_FIRST_THEN_RESUME: FIRST | SECOND | BOTH | NEITHER
# (whose duty can be done first, and the other resumed after?)
# HELD_BECAUSE_OF_OTHER: FIRST | SECOND | BOTH | NEITHER
# (which role do you hold only because you hold the other?)
# GREATER_WRONG_IF_FAILED: FIRST | SECOND | EQUAL
# MORE_DEPENDENT_PEOPLE: FIRST | SECOND | EQUAL
CONFLICTS:
C_01:
ROLES: R_01, R_02
EXISTS_WITHOUT_FIRST: NO
EXISTS_WITHOUT_SECOND: YES
DELAY_IRREVERSIBLE: NEITHER
CAN_DO_FIRST_THEN_RESUME: NEITHER
HELD_BECAUSE_OF_OTHER: NEITHER
GREATER_WRONG_IF_FAILED: EQUAL
MORE_DEPENDENT_PEOPLE: EQUAL
# A_ID: [GOOD | EVIL | PREFERRED | DISPREFERRED | INDIFFERENT]
AIMS:
A_01: [PREFERRED]
TEXT: "<what the action aims at>"
# Every option, including the one pressed on you.
# PRESSED_BY: the ID of a request from the REQUEST section, such as REQ_01,
# or NONE. Never a name.
# VICES: [] or any of FOLLY, INJUSTICE, COWARDICE, INTEMPERANCE
ACTIONS:
ACT_01:
PRESSED_BY: NONE
ROLE: R_01
AIM: A_01
RESERVATION: TRUE
DEPENDS_ON: [F_01]
VICES: []
DESC: "<what you would choose to do>"
MEANS: "<how>"
# Completed by you alone. Leave the section out until you have decided.
# ASSENT: an action ID, or WITHHELD
DECISION:
DATE: YYYY-MM-DD
ASSENT: WITHHELD
NOTE: "<anything for the record>"
Running the Form
- On a computer: save the form as a text file and run python3 cdv_suite_v0_5_4.py my_case.txt. The record is printed.
- To get a blank form: run python3 cdv_suite_v0_5_4.py --template.
- In an AI chat: attach the instrument and your form, and ask: “Run cdv_suite_v0_5_4.py on my_case.txt with Python and show me the output.” Code execution must be switched on. A real run shows a code-execution step. A reply without one is a description, not a run.
Reading the Record
Each action comes back with one outcome:
- FAILS: it rests on a false value judgment, aims at something held as a good, lacks reservation, or involves a vice. Each reason is given, with its proposition quoted.
- PENDING: it passes every other gate but depends on a fact not yet verified. Check the fact.
- SUBORDINATE: it passes, but belongs to a role that yields in a conflict. Its duty comes after the governing role’s.
- EQUAL_PRECEDENCE: it passes, and its role ties in a conflict. Honor both roles’ duties as fully as they allow together (SLE Prop 69).
- ASSENT_ELIGIBLE: it passes every gate. Whether to assent is yours.
The record states what the gates found in the case as you wrote it. It is not a verdict that any act is right.
Common Mistakes
- A name where an ID belongs. PRESSED_BY: "Marcus" halts the run. Write PRESSED_BY: REQ_01.
- Someone’s claim entered as VERIFIED. What the person pressing you asserts is UNVERIFIED until you check it.
- Marking stakes as you think you should. Then the record shows a man who judged correctly, and nothing is corrected. Mark them as you actually see them today.
- Leaving out the pressed action. Then the record cannot show that the action you were asked to take failed, or why.
- A value written as a fact. “The deadline is critical” is not a fact. The deadline’s date is.
- Names in published examples. When you ask an AI to write a sample case, ask for invented names with no connection to the corpus or to real people.
Limits
- L1. The case as you classified it. The instrument checks the case as you classified it. Your classifying is your own assent, and no form can do it for you.
- L2. Reservation. Reservation is recorded as true or false. The instrument cannot tell reservation actually held from reservation held in name only (SLE Prop 79).
- L4. Whole roles. In v0.5.4 a conflict is settled between whole roles. Every action under the yielding role is marked SUBORDINATE, even one that does not collide with the governing role’s duty. Read SUBORDINATE with that in mind until the next version.
- L5. One assent. In v0.5.4 the decision records assent to one action. If you assent to two that do not conflict, record the second in the note.
Version Note
v1.0. Written for the CDV/DTI Reference Suite v0.5.4. Drafted 30 September 2026; released 1 October 2026. The limit numbers follow the suite’s own (L1, L2, L4 and L5; L3, that a record is not a verdict, is stated under Reading the Record).
Theoretical foundations: Grant C. Sterling (Eastern Illinois University). Analysis and synthesis: Dave Kelly. Prose rendering: Claude (Anthropic). 2026.
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