Stabilization Theory: A Statement of the Framework

Stabilization Theory (ST) proposes a domain-independent structural framework for analyzing how configurations become or remain discriminable. Because the framework is defined at a structural rather than domain-specific level, ST advances a claim of domain universality at the level of existence: any configuration that exists can be analyzed through the same architecture. ST defines stabilization as the condition in which a configuration becomes or remains discriminable under a pressure–constraint relation, expressed structurally as S = P + C. ST distinguishes that relation from the subsequent history of its result: once established, a stabilized configuration may persist after the pressure involved in its establishment is absent. Pressure, constraint, and stabilization are treated as relational roles rather than as particular substances or mechanisms, allowing the same architecture to be applied across heterogeneous domains while preserving domain-specific standards of evidence. This statement paper records the framework's minimal architecture: the role definitions and identification criteria; a specification rule requiring the configuration and difference under analysis to be identified; four exhaustive outcomes relative to discriminability; the recursive property by which prior stabilization can become later constraint; and the framework's principal failure conditions. One physical and one social example illustrate how the same role criteria can be applied across heterogeneous systems while preserving their domain-specific distinctions.