Legitimacy (L)

1. Canonical Definition

Legitimacy (L) is the proportional stability condition of a meaning system. In Meaning System Science, legitimacy expresses whether truth fidelity (T), signal alignment (P), and structural coherence (C) are sufficient, in proportion, relative to the drift rate (D) generated by contradiction and unresolved inconsistency. Legitimacy is a structural condition, not an interpersonal judgment.

2. Featured Lineage

Jack Bogle — The Clash of the Cultures (2012)
Showed that institutional trust depends on aligned incentives, accurate information, and consistent governance. MSS extends this by defining legitimacy as a proportional condition grounded in T, P, C, and D.

Immanuel Kant — Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785)
Argued that legitimacy follows from principles that can hold under general scrutiny. MSS adapts this by treating legitimacy as a stability condition that must remain valid under changing observers and conditions.

3. Plainly

Legitimacy means the system remains reliable because reality, signals, and structure stay in proportion relative to contradiction. When drift rate rises beyond stabilizer capacity, interpretation becomes less reliable even if people act in good faith.

4. Scientific Role in Meaning System Science

Legitimacy is the primary output condition of MSS. It integrates stabilizers and drift into a single proportional assessment, enabling interpretive reliability to be evaluated as a system property rather than a personal perception.

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

• T: Reference accuracy and verification discipline support proportional stability.

• P: Signals that match verified conditions support coordinated action.

• C: Reliable pathways preserve interpretive compatibility across roles and time.

• D: Rising inconsistency accumulation reduces proportional stability.

• A: Regulatory bandwidth affects how quickly stabilizers and drift change over time.

6. Relationship to the Physics of Becoming

L = (T × P × C) / D

This law defines legitimacy as a proportional stability condition. Higher T, P, or C increase L when they remain proportionate. Higher D reduces L by increasing inconsistency accumulation pressure.

7. Application in Transformation Science

Transformation Science uses legitimacy as a stability threshold for modeling system behavior across time, identifying when proportional relationships remain viable, and detecting when drift dynamics will exceed stabilizer capacity.

8. Application in Transformation Management

Practitioners use legitimacy to guide diagnosis, sequencing, and governance decisions, including LDP-1.0 assessments and prioritization of interventions that restore proportion among variables.

9. Example Failure Modes

• Drift rate rises while verification and correction throughput remain fixed.

• Signals reward behavior that diverges from verified reference conditions.

• Pathways produce incompatible outcomes for the same case across roles.

• Updates are slow, so baselines remain inconsistent across time.

10. Canonical Cross References

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