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Perspective

Definition

A perspective is a stabilized reference structure that determines which distinctions are accessible, resolvable, or actionable within a system.

A perspective does not create distinctions; it constrains how existing distinctions are detected, encoded, and used.

Ontic / Core Claim

A perspective is not an observer or a subject, but a structural constraint imposed by a system’s internal organization, boundary conditions, and interaction channels.

Given the same ontic distinctions:

• different perspectives resolve different partitions of state space,
• different subsets of distinctions become salient or usable,
• different records become accessible or meaningful.

Perspective therefore mediates epistemic access to ontic structure without constituting that structure.

Distillation

A perspective is the set of constraints that determines which differences can make a difference for a system.

Why it matters

• Measurement and inference: Explains why the same physical reality yields different observable outcomes across systems.
• Information theory: Separates physical distinctions from the frames that access them.
• Cognition: Grounds perception and belief in structural constraints rather than intrinsic meaning.
• RDD coherence: Prevents collapse of epistemic access into ontic creation.

Links

• Related atoms:

  • Distinction
  • Persistent Distinction
  • Record (Memory Substrate)
  • Epistemic
  • State Space

• Used in molecules:

  • Qualia

• Conflicts with:

  • Views that treat observers or agents as ontically primitive

Sources

• Source: Fuchs, C. A., Mermin, N. D., & Schack, R. (2014). An introduction to QBism with an application to the locality of quantum mechanics. American Journal of Physics, 82(8), 749–754. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4874855

  • Key: @fuchsIntroductionQBismApplication2014
  • Use here: Illustrates perspective as agent-relative inference without claiming ontic creation.

• Source: Uexküll, J. von, Sagan, D., & Winthrop-Young, G. (1934). Foray into the worlds of animals and humans: With a theory of meaning (J. D. O’Neil, Trans.). University of Minnesota Press.

  • Key: @uexkullForayWorldsAnimals1934
  • Use here: Introduces Umwelt (Jakob von Uexküll coined Umwelt to name the experienced world of a system. Not the universe as such, but the subset of distinctions that are detectable, actionable, and meaningful given that system’s sensors, effectors, and internal organization) as organism-specific access to distinctions, not reality itself.

Re-contextualization Log

• 2025-12-26 · context: Alignment with Distinction / Record stack
  effect: clarified
  note: Removed “knower” framing; redefined perspective as a non-constitutive access constraint on ontic distinctions.