Proportionism: The Epistemic Stance of Meaning Systems Science

Authors: Jordan Vallejo and the Transformation Management Institute™ Research Group

Status: Working Paper No. 005 | November 2025

LinkedIn

Abstract

Proportionism is the epistemic stance that makes the sciences of meaning readable as a single structural system. Meaning System Science defines the five scientific domains of meaning: Semantics (T), Semeiology (P), Structural Systems Theory (C), Thermodynamics (D), and Affective Science (A). Transformation Science integrates them. Moral Physics formalizes their lawlike behavior. But none of these sciences can be interpreted coherently without a stance that positions the observer in correct relation to all five.

Proportionism introduces no new domain, variable, or theory. Its contribution is interpretive: it defines how meaning must be understood to avoid misreading any one science as primary, or collapsing interdependent variables into isolated explanations. This paper clarifies the necessity, lineage, and scientific role of Proportionism within Meaning System Science.

1. Introduction: Why Meaning Requires an Interpretive Stance

Meaning System Science establishes that meaning is a multi-variable, structural phenomenon. Its integrity depends on proportional alignment among:

• T — Truth fidelity (Semantics)

• P — Signal alignment (Semeiology)

• C — Structural coherence (Systems Theory)

• D — Drift / entropy (Thermodynamics)

• A — Affective regulation (Affective Science)

Each domain illuminates one dimension of meaning, yet none can interpret the whole system alone.
Before Proportionism, the variables could be described and measured, but the correct relation among them had no formal name.

Proportionism completes the field by defining the epistemic posture required to read meaning behavior correctly.

2. The Historical Problem: Integration Without Reduction

Throughout the twentieth century, attempts to unify meaning repeatedly failed for the same reason: each discipline tried to interpret the entire system from its own vantage point.

Structuralism

Revealed relations among signs, but not relations among truth, drift, or structure.

Systems Theory

Revealed topology and flow, but could not evaluate semantic accuracy or moral stability.

Semeiology

Revealed signals and power, but could not explain structural coherence or thermodynamic drift.

Thermodynamics

Revealed entropy and cost, but not alignment or legitimacy.

Developmental Theory

Revealed meaning-making capacity, but not the proportional forces acting on systems.

Because each discipline privileged its own lens, interpretations became partial, siloed, or competitive.

Proportionism solves this by providing a stance that integrates without collapsing.

3. The Emergence of Proportionism

Proportionism surfaced during the development of the First Law of Moral Proportion. As the relationships among T, P, C, D, and A became mathematically clear, a parallel epistemic need emerged:

A system with multiple interdependent variables cannot be interpreted from inside any single one.

The stance had to be:

• non-hierarchical

• non-reductive

• structurally neutral

• proportion-sensitive

Proportionism arose as the only stance capable of interpreting the sciences of meaning without distortion.

4. Definition

Proportionism is the epistemic stance that interprets meaning as a proportional system.

It does not add a sixth variable.
It does not propose a new domain.
It does not override any scientific pillar of Meaning System Science.

Proportionism clarifies how the five domains must be read together so that:

• no variable is misinterpreted as primary

• no domain is evaluated in isolation

• no interpretation ignores drift

• no stance collapses the system into psychology, culture, or structure alone

It is orientation, not expansion.

5. Distinguishing Proportionism from Adjacent Disciplines

Structuralism

Studies relations among signs.
Proportionism studies proportional relations among meaning-forces.

Systems Theory

Studies structure and flow.
Proportionism studies the alignment among truth, signals, structure, and drift.

Semeiology

Studies signals in action.
Proportionism studies how signals behave within proportional constraints.

Thermodynamics

Studies entropy.
Proportionism reads drift as one variable interacting with others.

Developmental Theory

Studies meaning-making capacity.
Proportionism studies meaning’s structural dependencies.

Philosophy

Studies justification.
Proportionism studies stability.

Proportionism is not a competitor to these schools, it is the stance that prevents misinterpretation when they are integrated.

6. Why Proportionism Is Not a Sixth Science

A science defines a domain of inquiry.
A stance defines how multiple domains are interpreted.

Proportionism:

• adds no content

• defines no new variable

• claims no conceptual territory

• makes no new prediction

Instead, it ensures that the predictions of the sciences are interpreted proportionally.

Its closest analogue is Einstein’s contribution to classical physics: a reorientation that made multiple systems intelligible together.

7. Proportionism Within Moral Physics

The First Law of Moral Proportion:

L = (T × P × C) ÷ D

demands a stance capable of interpreting proportional interdependence.

Proportionism clarifies:

• why truth without aligned signals produces contradiction

• why power without coherence produces distortion

• why coherence without truth produces brittleness

• why drift amplifies the weaknesses of all three

Proportionism is the stance that makes the law readable.

8. Applications Across Scales

Proportionism applies wherever meaning operates:

Individual

Interpreting truth and signals in structural context.

Interpersonal

Maintaining shared reality through aligned proportional cues.

Organizational

Reading misalignment patterns across truth, structure, and drift.

Institutional

Interpreting legitimacy as a proportional equilibrium.

Accelerated Systems (AI)

Understanding how synthetic signal volume disrupts proportional stability.

These applications arise from stance, not new content.

9. Historical Significance

Proportionism matters because:

1. It completes Meaning System Science.
   Without an interpretive stance, the five sciences behave like disconnected insights.

2. It emerged naturally from the mathematics.
   The First Law demanded a stance capable of interpreting multi-variable interaction.

3. It offers the field epistemic clarity.
   Like structuralism or relativity, Proportionism names the position from which the system becomes coherent.

10. Conclusion

Proportionism gives Meaning System Science its interpretive foundation.
It ensures the five sciences can be understood as one structural system.
It clarifies boundaries, stabilizes interpretation, and anchors the First Law of Moral Proportion in an epistemically coherent stance.

Meaning has a structure.
The sciences measure it.
Proportionism makes that structure readable.

Citation

Vallejo, J. (2025). Proportionism: The Epistemic Stance of Meaning Systems Science. Transformation Management Institute™ Research Library, Working Paper No. 5.