Observer-Limited Laws: Inference Under Restricted Observation

This archive accompanies the paper “Observer-Limited Laws: Inference Under Restricted Observation.” The work investigates which physical laws are epistemically inevitable for observers whose access to a system is structurally restricted. Using simple, fully specified toy universes and explicitly constrained observers, the paper studies how limitations on observation shape scientific inference. The analysis treats epistemic boundaries as first-class objects and examines how effective laws arise from the interaction between underlying dynamics and observer access, rather than from dynamics alone. The paper demonstrates several distinct epistemic phenomena by explicit construction, including: Structural invisibility: genuine laws that leave no observable trace for certain observers, even with unlimited data. Transient illusion: apparent law-like regularities that arise under limited observation but disappear asymptotically. Conditional detectability: laws that are inferable only within specific dynamical and observational regimes. Non-monotonic epistemic progress: cases where increased data or finer access weakens inference rather than strengthening it. Observer-induced equivalence: distinct microdynamics that collapse to the same effective description under restricted observation. Two minimal toy universes are specified explicitly in the paper to illustrate these phenomena. The constructions are intended as existence proofs rather than models of real physical systems. The work does not propose new physical laws. Instead, it clarifies how the laws that dominate scientific practice depend on the structure of observation and explains why some laws persist across epistemic expansion while others remain hidden or transient. Contents Compiled manuscript (PDF) LaTeX source Figures used in the paper Bibliography file Intended audience Philosophy of science, philosophy of physics, foundations of physics, and related conceptual disciplines.