AIM Framework glossary
Relational Instantiation Principle
Canonical definition
The principle that every relation between Objects is itself instantiated by a further Object, the relational Object, which carries properties such as quality, strength, duration, and direction over and above the properties of its relata, and which is valued by the Decision Hub through the same A, I, PM decomposition that applies to any other Object-type. The canonical Object enumeration in Chapter 2, which includes relationships among the Object-types, entails this principle directly. Two consequences follow, first that quality-language applied to relations ("a good relationship", "a strong partnership", "a fraying alliance") reports genuine Decision Hub valuations of the relational Object rather than idiomatic descriptions of its relata, and second that relational Objects can accumulate PM independently of the A and I content of their relata (Section 8.5, Object Parasitism).
Explanation
If you see two balls connected by a single piece of string, the string is the connection between the balls. It is not something on top of the balls, it is not a shorthand for a property of the balls, it is a third Object in the visual field with its own length, tension, colour, and integrity. The string is the relation, and its properties are properties of the relation. If the string snaps, something has happened that is not reducible to anything happening to the balls themselves. Human relationships have the same architectural status, even though you cannot see the string. A friendship, a marriage, a partnership, or a rivalry is the relation between the two Individuals, a third Object with its own quality, strength, duration, and direction, and with its own value both to the people it connects and to third-party observers. This is why relationships can improve or deteriorate while the people do not change, the relational Object is what is being evaluated, and it has its own condition. When people say "they have a good relationship", they are not making a loose statement about the two people, they are reporting the value of the relational Object that connects them. The access route differs from the string case, in human relationships the relational Object is inferred from observable configurations of the relata rather than directly perceived, but its Object-status is the same (see Relational Inference Principle).
Epistemic status
Framework-Specific Principle, derived from the canonical Object definition. No new axioms required.