criterion

A criterion must be stated or statable in language to operate as a decision rule — without linguistic encoding, it collapses into unarticulated preference. The present-tense necessity test: remove language, and criteria cease to function as evaluative standards. This is constitutive, not facilitative, because the very operation of a criterion as a human-made construct requires symbolic expression.

Falsification needs criteria to test against — remove criterion (standards of evaluation) and falsification cannot operate. This is constitutive, not merely facilitative: without a standard, there is nothing to falsify against.

Formalism requires criteria to operate — it is the application of formal criteria/rules to a domain. Without criteria, formalism has nothing to formalize; the dependency is constitutive, not merely facilitative. A formal system without criteria is just a collection of symbols.

Decision-making needs criteria to operate: to choose between options, one must have standards for evaluation. Without criteria, decision-making cannot function — there would be no basis for comparison. This is constitutive, not merely facilitative, just as criterion→DEPENDS_ON→language was accepted: criteria are the constitutive apparatus of decision-making.

falsifiability is a specific type of criterion — a standard by which something can be proven wrong. However, 'criterion' doesn't exist as an entry. Need to find target.

Validation operates by measuring against established criteria. Remove criterion and validation has nothing to validate against — it loses its standard for judgment.

Evaluation needs criterion to operate now — remove criteria (standards used to judge or assess) and evaluation stops functioning as a structured practice; it collapses into mere opinion. The removal test passes: evaluation as a systematic practice cannot operate without criteria.

Direction tested: criterion is older (standards of evaluation exist before goalposts metaphor). Removal test: remove criterion and moving-the-goalposts ceases to operate — the concept is about changing evaluation standards. Without criteria, there are no goalposts to move. Valid DEPENDS_ON.

safety-criterion is a specific kind of criterion — one that sets safety-related standards and benchmarks. Law 9: a competent speaker would call a safety-criterion 'a type of criterion.' Nearest kind is criterion.

A safety-significance is a specific kind of criterion — the weight or importance assigned to a safety factor when judging risk or priority. Per Law 9, a competent speaker calls it 'a significance criterion' in context.

Falsification is a specific kind of criterion used to evaluate scientific claims. A competent speaker would say 'falsification is a criterion' — it provides a standard (can the claim be shown false?) against which theories are judged. The nearest kind is criterion, not the broader practice or method.

A touchstone is a standard or criterion by which something is judged or evaluated. Clean specific→general INSTANCE_OF.