L2 The Unclosable Contingent Reality

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Authors: Amos Maley
Cited by: 0

Abstract

This paper establishes a strict boundary on closure claims by demonstrating that reality itself is not globally closable, even when local domains admit closure by exhaustion. It shows that contingency is not a temporary epistemic gap or a consequence of limited measurement, but a structural feature of admissible inquiry. The core result is that while specific representational regimes (theories, formalisms, constraint bundles) can be closed, the total space of contingent realizations cannot. Any attempt to globally close reality requires illicit scope extension, redefinition of admissibility, or replacement of contingency with hidden necessity—each of which collapses standing. This paper blocks a common misinterpretation of maximal closure claims by making explicit that closure applies to domains of representation, not to the totality of what may occur. It therefore preserves openness, novelty, and empirical surprise without weakening any impossibility or exhaustion results elsewhere in the corpus. No constructions, procedures, or operational mechanisms are provided. Keywords: contingency, closure limits, admissibility, open reality, foundations of physics, epistemic boundaries

Fields of Study & Subjects

Philosophy and History of Science Philosophy and Theoretical Science Epistemology Ethics and Metaphysics

Publication details

Journal / source
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Publication date
8 February 2026