The Integrative Theory of Science (ITS): A Universal Methodological Framework for Translating Subjective First-Person Phenomenology into Objective Third-Person Data

This paper introduces the Integrative Theory of Science (ITS; German: Integrative Wissenschaftstheorie, IWT) as a universal, cross-disciplinary epistemological and methodological framework. The objective of ITS is to systematically decode subjective first-person experiences, phenomenological reports, as well as traditional and lifeworld transmissions across all branches of science, translating them into falsifiable, objectively measurable third-person hypotheses. Whereas Karl Popper's critical rationalism (1959) governs the testing of existing theories within the context of justification, ITS closes a fundamental methodological gap within the context of discovery. To this end, the paper defines a universally applicable four-step translation protocol: (1) Phenomenological isolation via the 4-Factor Model, (2) Structural mapping onto established system models of the respective discipline based on strict isomorphism criteria, (3) Deductive hypothesis generation including a universal exclusion and falsification criterion, and (4) Multimodal empirical cross-validation. After formalizing this methodology in the opening chapters as a general tool for all empirical sciences, its practical performance is demonstrated through an exemplary cross-domain proof of concept using published secondary data: first, via paradoxical sympathetic trunk activation (electrical skin conductivity [EDA/SCL], heart rate variability [HRV] accompanied by corresponding central neural dynamics, captured via electroencephalography (EEG, measuring electrical brain activity/brainwaves) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI, neuroimaging of cerebral activity) during Kundalini meditation (Corby et al. 1978; Peng et al. 1999; Lazar et al. 2000; Arambula et al. 2001); second, via somatosensory pain network activation (dACC, anterior insula, S2) and catecholaminergic myocardial dysfunction (Takotsubo cardiomyopathy) in acute heartbreak (Eisenberger et al. 2003; Wittstein et al. 2005; Kross et al. 2011); and third, via pre-attentive somatic markers (SCR) in intuitive risk decisions (Bechara et al. 1997). Finally, the paper formulates three novel, prospective research protocols (Novel Predictions)—including a combined gastric and intestinal recording of the entire abdominal cavity—to demonstrate the immediate applicability of ITS for future empirical research.