Life-Value Reflow Theory: An Ontological and Structural Reconstruction of Economic and Social Dynamics

Taking the irreversible physical duration T of the individual as the absolute benchmark of scarcity, this paper proposes the "Life-Value Reflow Theory" as a unified interpretive framework for human existence and economic phenomena. While Marx's labor theory of value and Heidegger's being-towards-death each address fundamental dimensions of human existence—Marx at the level of social averages, Heidegger at the level of individual ontology—our framework proposes a different ontological positioning: humanity as a "variable within order." While the human spiritual world is inherently non-deterministic, it interacts with and anchors itself to material logic, thereby generating a life-value reflow capable of cross-generational transmission. Heidegger's being-towards-death (1927) acutely reveals the absolute finitude of existence and awakens individual authenticity through existential anxiety. His analysis is deliberately focused on the individual ontological level; he does not attempt to construct a social or intergenerational mechanism for value transmission—that is a different question. Our theory addresses that separate question by introducing reflow as a structural process. The paper first establishes the ontological foundation—Life Whole W = T × (R × P)—and distinguishes three modalities of reflow: personal, economic, and social. It then reconstructs the emergence and convergence mechanisms of the average rate of profit through a minimal three-person exchange model, laying the groundwork for subsequent analyses of class differentiation and node privilege. The paper concludes that, within the insurmountable finite duration T, humanity need not seek to transcend the system itself; rather, merely loosening the mechanisms of over-extraction in the reflow process is sufficient to enable the Life Whole to unfold more fully, achieve affirmation, and attain dignity within its given boundaries.