Diagnostic Failure Modes (KF / CF)

Derived diagnostic classification of interpretive instability

1. Canonical Definition

Diagnostic Failure Modes classify how meaning-system variables fail in practice during interpretation.

Constraint Failure (KF) occurs when interpretive convergence cannot be achieved because evaluation constraints are weakened, underspecified, or unenforceable.

Closure Failure (CF) occurs when correction, escalation, or reopening cannot be safely routed after binding, causing instability to persist or post-binding governance to be enforced without correction permeability.

Diagnostic failure modes do not introduce new dimensions and are not variables, regimes, or phases. They summarize cross-variable breakdown patterns to guide diagnosis and intervention.

2. Phase and Preconditions

• Operates: diagnostic classification (not phase-bound), with distinct primary loci

• Requires: an active meaning system with interpretive activity

• KF requires: pre-binding interpretive dynamics under constraint (binding not required)

• CF requires: binding (and typically post-binding governance conditions)

• Does not require: regime classification, event closure, crystallization, or persistence across time

KF is most visible during pre-binding operations.
CF is most visible during post-binding governance and correction.

3. Scope and Exclusions

Diagnostic failure modes are not:

• variables or additional diagnostic dimensions

• governance regimes or authority classifications

• causes, forces, or mechanisms

• temporal states or lifecycle stages

• indicators of legitimacy, correctness, or truth

• systems, events, or response pathways

They do not replace variable-level analysis and do not determine regime status.

4. Structural Role

Diagnostic failure modes summarize how variable imbalance manifests as actionable instability.

• KF localizes failure upstream of binding, where evaluation cannot reliably eliminate candidates.

• CF localizes failure downstream of binding, where correction and reopening cannot be safely executed.

They indicate where intervention should occur without altering interpretive structure, authority, or regime classification.

5. Relationship to Meaning-System Variables

• Variable relation: derived from configurations of (T, P, C, D, A)

• Explanatory role: summarize failure shape, not cause

Variables describe what is stressed.
Diagnostic failure modes describe how that stress fails.

6. Temporal Status

Diagnostic failure modes have no independent temporal persistence.

They may recur across interpretive events if underlying variable conditions remain uncorrected, but repetition does not convert them into states, regimes, or temporal properties.

Post-binding persistence of KF or CF patterns may be assessed using PSDP, but the modes themselves are not measurement protocols.

7. Common Category Errors

• Treating KF or CF as variables or forces

• Treating them as regime classifications

• Diagnosing KF and CF as concurrent causes within the same phase

• Treating persistence as evidence of correctness or legitimacy

• Using them as substitutes for variable-level diagnosis

When both appear, they indicate sequential failure across phases, not a single mechanism.

8. Canonical Cross-References

Meaning-System Variables (T, P, C, D, A) • Interpretive Dynamics • Binding • Action-Governing Meaning (AGM) • Crystallization • Drift • Action Determinacy Loss (ADL) • Proportional Stability Diagnostic Protocol (PSDP)

9. Plain Statement

Diagnostic failure modes describe whether interpretation is failing to converge before binding (KF) or failing to correct after binding (CF), and identify where healthy intervention should occur.