The Theory of Social Constitution——A Meta-Framework on How Human Societies Form, Operate, Pathologize, and Reconstruct

This paper addresses a question long evaded: **What is society, really?** It is neither a "collection of individuals" nor a "sum total of institutions." Society is a **living intermediary layer** situated between the individual and nature—constituted by patterns of interaction among countless individuals, patterns that are repeatedly selected, locked in, solidified, and occasionally restructured over time. The core thesis of this paper is that the formation, operation, pathology, and reconstruction of society can all be traced to the dynamic interplay of **three pairs of tensions**—the tension between the individual and the collective, between certainty and possibility, and between self-interest and empathy. These tensions cannot be eliminated; they can only be regulated. The health of a society does not depend on the "elimination" of tensions, but on finding a sustainable point of equilibrium within them. This paper does not offer a blueprint for a "perfect society." It offers a **diagnostic tool**—to help understand why any given society is the way it is, and where it might be headed. **Scope Boundary Note**: This framework is constructed based on observations of "human society in its current form of existence." It describes a social form constituted by biological individuals, material resources, and intergenerational transmission. Should the form of human existence undergo a fundamental transformation (e.g., mind uploading, human-machine integration, detachment from material carriers, etc.), some descriptions in this framework may no longer apply—though the meta-logic of "tension-structure-process" may still serve as a reference.