The Theory of Limited Perceptual Domain (TDPL): Towards a Unified Understanding of the Structural Limits of Knowledge

For centuries, scientific progress has been driven by the assumption that expanding observation leads to a progressively more complete understanding of reality. From the invention of the telescope to the development of artificial intelligence, each technological advance has extended humanity’s ability to explore previously inaccessible aspects of the world. Yet a paradox emerges. Every new instrument reveals not only new knowledge, but also new layers of complexity, mediation and uncertainty. Modern physics, neuroscience, cosmology and artificial intelligence all suggest that observers never access reality directly. Instead, they interact with reality through biological, technological and inferential processes that inevitably transform what is observed. This paper introduces the Theory of Limited Perceptual Domain (TDPL), a conceptual framework proposing that every observer operates within a finite domain of accessibility embedded within a broader reality. According to TDPL, reality exists independently of observation, but access to it is always partial, mediated and structurally constrained. The theory does not deny scientific objectivity, nor does it promote relativism. Rather, it provides a unified explanation for why scientific knowledge can be simultaneously reliable, predictive and inevitably incomplete