A presuppositional moral framework that presents itself as skeptical inquiry. It arrives with its verdict already written — that existing structures of power, history, law, and cultural tradition are instruments of oppression — and works backward through evidence to confirm the conclusion. Because the framework cannot be questioned using its own method, it functions not as inquiry but as formation: it shapes the mind before the mind can evaluate it. When embedded in educational institutions, critical theory operates as a civic de-formation engine, replacing classical formation — which trained citizens to reason from universal principles — with limbic-first reasoning organized around identity, grievance, and systemic suspicion. Its most consequential feature is not what it teaches but what it places beyond examination.