Chart Logic & Core Mechanics was written in August 2018 by Brian Burns and James Dama, two researchers at Paradigm Academy (an organization affiliated with Leverage Research). It is concerned with charting, a set of tools and techniques designed to allow researchers to (1) turn mental content into explicit statements, (2) represent the relationship between those explicit statements, and (3) help determine which areas of mental content to investigate next. In particular, the document is aimed at providing an authoritative explanation of chart logic, the rules in charting that determine how different pieces of mental content are related to one another and how changes to one piece of mental content are expected to cause changes to other areas of mental content.

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As the authors note, Chart Logic & Core Mechanics is not a full explanation of the underlying theory that produces the rules for charting nor is it a how-to-chart manual. Instead, it’s a technical guide to charting written for an internal audience that would have had substantial familiarity with the basics of Leverage’s introspection research program. As Leverage’s Exploratory Psychology program releases material that explicates the background context assumed by the authors, we think Chart Logic will become an increasingly valuable reference for anyone learning to chart. In the meantime, we think the document is valuable as a preview of the kind of material Leverage’s exploratory psychology program will release in the future.