Criteriology: A Preliminary Analytical Concept

This concept note introduces criteriology as a preliminary analytical framework for examining the role of criteria in evaluation and decision-making across disciplines. While criteria are widely presupposed in law, pedagogy, and organizational decision processes, their operational role is rarely examined systematically. The note clarifies key concepts—criterion, criteria-lessness, criteria failure, and criteria breach—and proposes an analytical progression that distinguishes between structural absence, functional breakdown, and normative violation. The framework highlights how criteria-lessness may enable bias to circulate within decision-making processes and how this challenges fundamental requirements of…