Because Goodman is interested in the nature and logic of constitutional systems as such, he begins his discussion in The Structure of Appearance with meta-theoretical considerations. Since the project of SA is to develop a constitutional system that defines other notions from a predetermined basis, the question is which conditions of adequacy should be in place for evaluating the definitions. Constitutional systems are systems of rational reconstruction, i.e., the concepts, objects, or truths that get constituted by definition from the basis are supposedly counterparts of concepts, objects or truths that we accept already pre-theoretically.