Stage 2 leaves an identity question rather than an identity by itself. If Time, Space, and Substance hold necessarily, does Reality merely *have* or *contain* them, or is Reality nothing over and above Nature?

This section runs that identity test through four questions. Could anything real fall outside Nature? Do “Reality” and “Nature” name one role under two descriptions? Does any candidate remain outside the triad? Where could an additional ground stand relative to Nature? The maximality, role-semantics, residue, and grounding-trilemma tests (§[§3.4.1](<3. Convergence.md>)–3.4.4) answer those questions in turn. Section [§3.4.5](<3. Convergence.md>) locates the tighter change-side seal downstream, so the identity is not made to lean on a contested joint prematurely.

> [!info]
> **Core concept.** By this point the argument has shown that time, space, and persistence hold necessarily. One question remains: does Reality merely have or contain those conditions, or is Reality nothing over and above Nature? This capstone runs the identity test. If nothing real could fall outside the three conditions (there's no outside to occupy), if Reality and Nature turn out to name one role under two words, and if no leftover or added ingredient earns its place, then the verdict is identity, not mere possession. Reality isn't a thing that has Nature; it is Nature. What began as the bare possibility of change closes here, on the world being one with its own structure.

The weight distribution is explicit. Maximality ([§3.4.1](<3. Convergence.md>)) remains the shortest bearing line. Constitution ([§3.4.2](<3. Convergence.md>)) reinforces it from reference. Exhaustion ([§3.4.3](<3. Convergence.md>)) now bears weight of its own: any residue either makes a difference to what is the case, and in making it instantiates the Triconditions, or makes none, and fails the [§1.1](<1.1 Reality.md>) role-definition of the real; the closure is of the class, not of a list. The Grounding Trilemma ([§3.4.4](<3. Convergence.md>)) supplies a further substantive line: any proposed additional ground either instantiates the Triconditions in grounding Nature, falls within Nature by being grounded, or does no grounding work, and the residue dilemma catches what the third horn releases, since a candidate that does no work of any kind is not a lean survivor but no real item at all. The critical path uses Stage 2's result and the Chapter-1 definitions of Reality and grounding ([§1.1](<1.1 Reality.md>), [§1.5.5](<1.5.5 Ground and Dependence.md>)); it does not put the S5 axiom back onto the identity claim.

These welds converge on an identity at the resolution Stage 2 has independently earned: Reality is not outside the necessary roles of directed order, difference, and bearing. That S5-free result should not be restated as an independent proof of the fully loaded temporal, spatial, and causal types. The canonical Chapter 2 line still carries those type-level necessities unless [§3.5](<3.5 What the Convergence Shows.md>) supplies a non-circular bridge. Section 3.5 therefore steps back to separate the role-level identity from the remaining type-layer and □◇C burdens.


- [3.4.1 No Outside](<3.4.1 No Outside.md>)
- [3.4.2 One Role, One Filler](<3.4.2 One Role, One Filler.md>)
- [3.4.3 No Residue](<3.4.3 No Residue.md>)
- [3.4.4 Nothing Additional](<3.4.4 Nothing Additional.md>)
- [3.4.5 Downstream of the Seal](<3.4.5 Downstream of the Seal.md>)


---

← [3.3.6 Uneven Overdetermination](<3.3.6 Uneven Overdetermination.md>) | [3.4.1 No Outside](<3.4.1 No Outside.md>) →
