A Model-Relative Normative Framework for Living Under Constraint

This paper articulates a model-relative normative framework for living that is consistent with a naturalistic, non-foundational philosophy distinguishing physical systems, abstract structures, and representational models. It rejects both metaphysical moral realism and normative subjectivism, arguing instead that normativity arises as a derived evaluative structure wherever agents represent the world under constraint and must distinguish success from failure. Within this framework, values and obligations are neither intrinsic features of reality nor arbitrary preferences, but commitments justified by coherence, empirical constraint, and consequence. The framework treats comprehension as normatively central. Understanding is not valued as an intrinsic good, but as a practical necessity for reducing error, sustaining agency, and enabling responsible action. Meaning is understood as a normative evaluation of a finite life rather than as a semantic or metaphysical property; finitude intensifies rather than undermines evaluative significance. A meaningful life is characterized by coherence across comprehension, contribution to shared conditions of existence, and engaged experience. Because human agents are embedded in shared social and ecological systems, individual normative commitments have conditional implications for education, dignity, sustainability, and institutional organization. These implications are derived rather than axiomatic and remain open to revision. The paper further examines the impact of artificial intelligence on human agency, arguing that AI-generated representations decouple creation from understanding and thereby make human comprehension more important, not less. AI is framed as a potential amplifier of epistemic capacity rather than a replacement for understanding. Finally, the paper introduces a dialectical method for making implicit beliefs explicit, enabling coherence testing and responsible revision without claiming finality or authority. The framework is offered as a disciplined, revisable stance toward living under constraint in a finite, interconnected, and technologically mediated world.