What is domain validity?

Domain validity is a concept in personal epistemology: Even a well-tested schema may fail in new contexts or at different scales. Validation tells you where a schema works, not that it works everywhere. The boundaries of your tested conditions are the boundaries of your warranted confidence.

Example: A manager develops a schema: "giving people autonomy increases their productivity." She validates it across three teams, measuring output before and after removing micromanagement. The data confirms the schema — productivity rises in all three cases. She applies the schema to a fourth team, a newly formed group with no established norms, and productivity collapses. The schema was validated within its domain — experienced teams with existing competence — but its boundary conditions were never tested. The validation was real. The limits were also real. They were not contradictions. They were the difference between "this works here" and "this works everywhere."

This concept is part of Phase 15 (Schema Validation) in the How to Think curriculum, which builds the epistemic infrastructure for schema validation.