Structural Determination: A Containment-Based Alternative to Causal Explanation

This paper introduces Structural Determination, a containment-based framework for explanation. Instead of asking what causes a phenomenon, the framework asks which containment relations make the phenomenon unavoidable. The work develops the concepts of containment, closure, invariants, and structural depth (Theta), and presents computable measures including Theta_min, Theta_max, and Psi. This paper extends the Structural Depth research program, including The Structural Depth Law of Time, Reality as Invariant Structure, and Structural Depth and Entropy. Additional research, papers, and resources are available at marketalchemy.io