Meaning as Recursive Stabilization

This paper provides a philosophical analysis of a formal symbolic framework that reconsiders the nature of meaning, objectivity, and validated knowledge in symbolic systems. The framework treats meaning not as an inherent feature of symbols or a product of individual cognition, but as an achievement: the recursive stabilization of symbolic states through observer-relative entropy constraints. Objectivity arises as a convergence point—the alignment of multiple independent observer projections under formally specified bounds—rather than as direct correspondence to an external reality or simple agreement among agents. Without observers, the process of validation cannot proceed, and the domain of achieved meaning collapses. The framework developed in three phases: from initial recursive governance constraints aimed at preventing instability in symbolic processes, to a formal semantic geometry modeling stabilization in a symbolic Hilbert space, and finally to an informational ontology where identity and persistence are stable trajectories under recursive projection. Engaged with Quine on underdetermination, Kuhn on paradigm shifts, Putnam on truth, and concepts from quantum information theory, the framework offers a unified naturalist account in which meaning is stabilized structure, truth is convergence under constraints, and validated reality is recursively constituted form.