Physics presupposes time, law, and order without reflecting on the conditions that make such description possible. This paper reconstructs the structural emergence path: a sequence of seven logically ordered levels—existence, difference, relation, reproducibility, invariance, lawfulness, and time-like ordering—without which systematic description of change would be impossible. The analysis operates pre-empirically, identifying necessary (not sufficient) conditions through radical minimalism and validating them via negative analysis, convergence testing, and a worked example from quantum foundations. The emergence path proves robust against variation in starting points. We show that the seven levels generate six operational applicability conditions (A1–A6) and that these conditions occupy a distinct level that cannot be derived from within the physical theories that presuppose them. A brief diagnostic demonstration illustrates how the conditions apply to a concrete foundational problem. The analysis makes no ontological claims and does not propose new physical theory.v2 changes (April 2026): Added A1–A6 applicability-condition terminology (§3.7) with diagnostic demonstration, L1/L2/L3 level distinction (§5.2), and positioning against applicability literature (§2.4). Added worked example from quantum foundations (§4.3) and new objection (§6.4). Expanded references (25 → 48). The emergence path and core argument are unchanged.
Harald et al. (Mon,) studied this question.