Constraint Failure

1. Canonical Definition

Constraint Failure is a meaning system failure mode where interpretation becomes under specified and cannot stabilize shared reference conditions. In Meaning System Science, it occurs when evidence thresholds, equivalence rules, boundary conditions, or interpretive constraints are too weak, inconsistent, or unenforceable to preserve reconstructability, comparability, and integration. The system produces many plausible interpretations but lacks shared limits for resolving disagreement, auditing claims, and converging on stable baselines. Drift rate increases because inconsistencies accumulate faster than constraints can contain and organize them.

This is a structural condition. It is not a statement about intent, morality, intelligence, or education.

2. Featured Lineage

W.V.O. Quine — “Two Dogmas of Empiricism” (1951)
Showed that evidence underdetermines theory. MSS extends this by formalizing Constraint Failure when shared constraints are insufficient for portability and comparable evaluation.

Paul Feyerabend — Against Method (1975)
Argued for pluralism in method. MSS adapts this by distinguishing productive variation from constraint breakdown when evaluation constraints cannot preserve shared baselines.

3. Plainly

Constraint Failure means there are too few shared rules for what counts as evidence and what counts as the same test. Interpretation continues, but comparison and correction do not converge across people, teams, or systems.

4. Scientific Role in Meaning System Science

Constraint Failure is a governance diagnostic for identifying when interpretive production outpaces the constraints required for stable evaluation. It explains why disagreement persists, why claims are difficult to reconstruct, and why portability declines under high variation conditions.

5. Relationship to the Variables (T, P, C, D, A)

• T: Promised reference conditions are not specified enough to reconstruct claims and verify correspondence under shared evaluation.

• P: Equivalence rules fail, so shared labels do not map to comparable meaning across roles and channels.

• C: Integration pathways cannot organize outputs into stable maps, so results resist synthesis and governance.

• D: Drift rate increases as inconsistencies propagate without constraints that force convergence and correction.

• A: Regulation load increases because uncertainty persists and evaluation effort exceeds available human capacity.

6. Relationship to the Physics of Becoming

L = (T × P × C) / D

Constraint Failure reduces L by lowering T, P, and C while raising the drift rate term.

7. Application in Transformation Science

Transformation Science uses Constraint Failure to detect when outcomes cannot be evaluated under shared standards. Competing interpretations persist across measures, audits, and baselines, limiting learning, correction, and comparability across cycles.

8. Application in Transformation Management

Practitioners respond by strengthening evaluation constraints before scaling change. This includes evidence thresholds, equivalence rules, boundary conditions for scope, and measurement conventions that preserve reconstructability and comparable reporting.

9. Example Failure Modes

• A metric name stays constant while assumptions vary, producing results that cannot be compared across groups.

• Methods are referenced but not specified, so equivalence cannot be tested and audits cannot reconstruct claims.

• Boundary conditions for inclusion shift without rules, so baselines diverge across teams and reporting periods.

• Local standards replace global standards because shared constraints are absent or not enforceable.

10. Canonical Cross References

Meaning-System • Interpretation • Meaning System Science • Physics of Becoming • First Law of Moral Proportion • Legitimacy (L) • Truth Fidelity (T) • Signal Alignment (P) • Structural Coherence (C) • Drift (D) • Affective Regulation (A) • Interface • Coupling • Meaning Topology • Drift Catalysts (β₆) • Coherence Regulators (γ₆) • Closure Failure • Meaning-System Governance • Transformation Science • Transformation Management • LDP-1.0 • 3E Standard™