mind-topic-selection
Use when deciding whether a philosophy project fits Mind and which content type (article, discussion, book review, critical notice) to target. Mind takes quality as the sole criterion and excludes no area, style, or school, so the test is the significance and defensibility of the thesis, not novelty of topic alone. Helps frame the question; it does not do the philosophy for you.
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill mind-topic-selection --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# Topic Selection & Fit (mind-topic-selection) Mind publishes across **all of philosophy** and takes **quality as the sole criterion** — no area, no style, no school is excluded. So the bar is not "this topic is fashionable"; it is **"there is a sharp, significant thesis here, and I can defend it soundly within ~8,000 words."** Use this skill to pressure-test fit before you invest. ## When to trigger - Choosing among possible projects or framings for a Mind submission - A colleague said the idea is "interesting but not yet a paper" or "just a survey" - Deciding between a full **article** and a shorter **discussion** of one paper - Considering a **book review** or **critical notice** rather than an article ## The Mind fit test A strong Mind paper usually clears all four: 1. **A real thesis.** You can state, in one sentence, a claim that someone competent could deny. Not a topic ("on vagueness") but a position ("vagueness is semantic, not epistemic, because …"). 2. **Significance.** The thesis bears on a live debate — it resolves a puzzle, refutes an influential argument, draws a distinction that was being run together, or reframes a question. 3. **Defensible by argument alone.** The
- When to trigger
- The Mind fit test
- Area framing (Mind welcomes the whole field)
- Content-type choice
- Worked micro-example: from topic to Mind-ready thesis
- The one-per-12-months rule makes selection strategic
- Anti-patterns
- Output format
- Supplementary resources
What does the mind-topic-selection skill do?
Use when deciding whether a philosophy project fits Mind and which content type (article, discussion, book review, critical notice) to target. Mind takes quality as the sole criterion and excludes no area, style, or school, so the test is the significance and defensibility of the thesis, not novelty of topic alone. Helps frame the question; it does not do the philosophy for you.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill mind-topic-selection --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills, a repository with 909 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.