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 to preserve reconstructability, comparability, and integration. The system produces many plausible interpretations but lacks the shared limits required to resolve disagreement, audit claims, or converge on stable baselines. Drift rises because inconsistencies accumulate faster than constraints can contain or organize them.

Constraint Failure is a structural condition. It is not a statement about creativity, openness, or moral seriousness.

2. Featured Lineage: Foundational Thinkers

W.V.O. Quine — “Two Dogmas of Empiricism” (1951)
Showed that evidence underdetermines theory and that interpretation depends on background commitments. MSS extends this by identifying Constraint Failure as the governance condition where shared constraints are insufficient for portability, making evaluation local and disagreement hard to resolve.

Paul Feyerabend — Against Method (1975)
Argued against fixed methodological rules and emphasized pluralism in practice. MSS adapts this by distinguishing productive variation from constraint breakdown, formalizing when interpretive freedom exceeds the system’s capacity to preserve stable evaluation conditions.

3. Plainly

Constraint Failure means the system has too few rules for what counts as evidence and what counts as the same test.
People can keep interpreting, but they cannot reliably compare, reconstruct, or integrate.
Disagreement persists because the system lacks shared limits.

4. Scientific Role in Meaning System Science

Constraint Failure is a governance diagnostic for identifying when interpretive production is outpacing the constraints required for stable evaluation. It explains why environments can generate large volumes of explanation while losing portability and convergence capacity.

Constraint Failure is a primary driver of fragmentation into local baselines.

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

T — Truth Fidelity: Weakens because correspondence conditions are not specified enough to reconstruct claims.
P — Signal Alignment: Weakens because equivalence rules fail and “same” labels do not map to comparable meaning.
C — Structural Coherence: Weakens because integration structures cannot organize outputs into stable maps.
D — Drift: Increases as inconsistencies propagate without constraints that force convergence.
A — Affective Regulation: Weakens as uncertainty grows and evaluation load exceeds human capacity.

6. Relationship to the First Law of Moral Proportion

L = (T × P × C) / D

Constraint Failure lowers legitimacy by degrading T, P, and C simultaneously.
As constraints weaken, D rises because contradictions and variance become durable. The combined effect reduces L.

7. Application in Transformation Science

Transformation Science uses Constraint Failure to identify when transformation fails because the system cannot stabilize evaluation standards. It signals that interventions will generate competing interpretations of outcomes, making learning and correction unreliable.

8. Application in Transformation Management

Practitioners use Constraint Failure to decide when governance must strengthen constraints before major change. It informs actions such as:

  • defining evidence thresholds,

  • standardizing equivalence and comparability rules,

  • clarifying boundary conditions for scope and claims,

  • stabilizing reporting and measurement conventions.

9.Example Failure Modes

  • The same metric is used with different assumptions, producing non-comparable results.

  • Methods are named but not specified, so equivalence cannot be tested.

  • Claims cannot be reconstructed without private knowledge or undocumented steps.

  • Subgroups adopt local standards because global standards are absent or ambiguous.

  • Interpretations proliferate faster than correction and synthesis can integrate.

10. Canonical Cross-References

Closure Failure • 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) • Meaning-System Governance • Drift Catalysts (β₆) • Coherence Regulators (γ₆) • Meaning Topology • Transformation Science • LDP-1.0 • 3E Standard™ • Transformation Management