Although there have been many robust and general definitions of the word “fundamental”, most cannot be directly applied to scientific concepts. By limiting our scope to postulates, by which we mean mathematical representations of physical laws, and defining fundamentality in terms of a postulate’s behavior under deformation, we demonstrate a tentative framework for a practical notion of fundamentality. A complete and robust realization of this idea is beyond the scope of this essay; instead we have laid down a theoretical foundation toward this ambitious goal. It is our hope that this work will promote further discussion and inspire future work on this promising and potentially rewarding subject.
Erwin Handoko Tanin