There has long been a theoretical divide between natural sciences and social sciences. Researches related to economics, sociology, and civilization evolution have always lacked a universally applicable, logically consistent, and mathematically deducible underlying axiom system. To address the academic dilemmas such as the lack of a unified physical foundation for social system operation, insufficient underlying deduction logic for the rise and fall of civilizations, and the lack of natural law constraints on human economic behavior, this paper comprehensively introduces the four basic laws of thermodynamics (Zeroth, First, Second, and Third), integrates Prigogine’s dissipative structure self-organization theory, von Neumann’s complex system threshold theory, and Gell-Mann’s cosmic hierarchical order generation theory, and systematically constructs a full-coverage, logically coherent unified axiom system of social thermodynamics. This study conducts theoretical construction in four progressive levels: deriving the social consensus steady-state axiom from the thermal equilibrium principle of the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics to supplement the steady-state foundation for the existence of social systems; establishing the operational principle of conservation of social resources, wealth, and productivity based on the First Law of Thermodynamics; constructing the framework of consciousness entropy change rules with the help of the Second Law of Thermodynamics to clarify the core internal driving forces of social differentiation and system disorderly evolution; and defining the social hierarchical structure form, system development boundary, and the core principle that overall complexity cannot be superimposed according to the Third Law of Thermodynamics. Under this theoretical framework, this paper redefines the four basic economic concepts of enterprise, market, commodity, and price in a physical and axiomatic manner. Three typical historical civilization cases—the checks and balances system established by Britain’s Magna Carta, the multi-center governance structure of the U.S. federal system, and the active cognitive innovation and organizational structure hierarchical leap of Japan’s Meiji Restoration—are selected to fully verify the theoretical explanatory power and practical deductive value of the axiom system. The research confirms that human society is essentially an open complex dissipative system that follows the universal thermodynamic laws of the universe. The maintenance of social order and stability, the transformation and utilization of social energy, the spontaneous formation of group differences, and the establishment of social hierarchical structures are all jointly governed by the four social thermodynamic axioms. Adhering to the open development model, maintaining the orderly flow of elements, and relying on self-organization to achieve system upgrading are the only correct paths for human civilization to evolve to a higher level; the utopian social form pursuing absolute equality does not have the possibility of realistic existence and development under the complete thermodynamic theoretical system. This study breaks the academic barriers between physics, system science, economics, sociology, and civilization evolution theory, realizes the unification of multi-disciplinary theories, and lays a solid underlying theoretical foundation for the axiomatic research of social sciences.
Xijiang Hu (Sun,) studied this question.