Glossary: canon, authority, non-response

This family groups the notions that bound the legitimacy of a response produced by an AI system.
It addresses a central question: what can a model infer from partial signals, and under what conditions does non-response become the correct output?

Each entry links to:
a canonical definition (if it exists), a framework (if applicable), and related pages for deeper understanding.

Quick access

• Canonical definitions
• Frameworks and applicable standards
• Clarifications (scope, limits, ambiguous cases)
• Doctrine (principles and positions)

Terms in the “canon, authority, non-response” family

Authority boundary

Explicit limit between what a source declares and what a model deduces. A clear boundary prevents normative extrapolations and makes the response enforceable.

• Definition: Authority boundary

Interpretability perimeter

The exact zone where a source authorizes inference, and where it does not. The perimeter reduces misinterpretations produced by over-interpretation.

• Definition: Interpretability perimeter

Canonical silence

Status where the absence of response is not a gap, but the normal effect of a canon that does not authorize inference or that imposes reservation.

• Definition: Canonical silence

Legitimate non-response

Non-response produced because no response can be formulated without violating a legitimacy limit (absence of evidence, unresolved ambiguity, authority conflict).

• Definition: Legitimate non-response
• Clarification: Plausible hypotheses, ungoverned inference, and forbidden plausibility

Authority conflict

Collision between two sources or truth frameworks that claim the same semantic zone. Without arbitration, the model “averages” or invents a compromise.

• Definition: Authority conflict
• Doctrine: Governed negation

Governed negation

Controlled mechanism for negating, refuting, or correcting a proposition without triggering a compensatory hallucination. Governed negation protects correction.

• Definition: Governed negation
• Doctrine: Governed negation: managing conflicts without hallucinating

Response conditions

Explicit constraints that determine when a response is authorized (and under which evidence, limits, and formats). They transform a “plausible response” into an enforceable response.

• Definition: Response conditions
• Framework: Enforceable response conditions for AI agents

Related frameworks and pages (recommended)

• Interpretive governance (definition)
• The framing role of interpretive legitimacy
• Relations: links, dependencies, and internal coherence

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