The General Zero Principle: Formalizing the Indeterminate Ground of Determination

Abstract: This paper formalizes the General Zero Principle (GZP) as the necessary resolution to the problem of infinite regress in foundational metaphysics. I argue that all systems of determination—whether logical, mathematical, or physical—presuppose a background of indeterminacy that cannot itself be bounded or defined without collapsing into a new layer of the very system it seeks to ground. Drawing on the insights of Gödel’s incompleteness and Spencer-Brown’s laws of form, I demonstrate that the GZP represents the ontological "Zero" from which all relational distinctions emerge. By accepting the indeterminate ground not as a failure of logic but as its primary condition, the Neo-Pre-Platonic Naturalist (NPN) framework provides a stable foundation for first principles that avoids the traps of circularity and dogmatic assertion.