
This preprint states the primitive axiomatics for finite cohomological obstruction theory. It develops an observer-relative obstruction calculus beginning from localized scalar comparison, evaluation preorders, and finite simplicial carriers. Pairwise inconsistency is modeled as a cochain defect, with exact repair represented by the image of the degree-zero coboundary and irreducible obstruction represented by the quotient space Q¹ = C¹ / im(d₀). The paper separates derived structure from injected observer assumptions. In particular, the obstruction magnitude Φ₁ is treated as a quotient norm induced by a declared observer gauge rather than as a primitive universal metric. The framework further separates quotient mass Φ₁ from closure-failure mass Γ₂ through the closure map κ¹ : Q¹ → C², yielding a two-axis obstruction signature and the closure-ratio guardrail R_cl. The paper also introduces observer passivity, contextual congruence, witness-rank invariance, conditional reflective congruence completion, well-founded finite descent, and licensed lift contracts. These structures formalize when a system may repair, lift, refuse, or terminate with a typed unknown. Universal physical, semantic, or consciousness claims are explicitly excluded; the theory applies only under declared finite carriers, observer gauges, context actions, and admissibility hypotheses.
cochain complexes, evaluation preorder, dual observability, cohomological obstruction theory, observer passivity, witness rank, licensed lift contracts, closure ratio, finite obstruction calculus, reflective completion, finite simplicial complexes, observer-relative geometry, matroid rank, replica extensivity, quotient obstruction, contextual congruence, finite descent, quotient norm
cochain complexes, evaluation preorder, dual observability, cohomological obstruction theory, observer passivity, witness rank, licensed lift contracts, closure ratio, finite obstruction calculus, reflective completion, finite simplicial complexes, observer-relative geometry, matroid rank, replica extensivity, quotient obstruction, contextual congruence, finite descent, quotient norm
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