The Meta-Recursive Cognition Corpus: Canonical Edition (2025 Research Lineage, v2.1)

The Meta-Recursive Cognition Corpus consolidates a four-part research program examining the structure, validation, provenance, and dual-use dynamics of recursive cognition in human-AI collaboration. The corpus articulates a unified account of recursive feedback loops between language and thought and formalizes the structural conditions under which such recursion enhances understanding rather than replaces correspondence with coherence. It distinguishes constructive recursive cognition from weaponized recursive capture and introduces methodological safeguards for non-circular framework self-analysis and practitioner-level epistemic authority preservation. The Canonical Edition (v2.1) consolidates the 2025 research lineage into a 2026 canonical revision. It harmonizes terminology across previously published works, formalizes structural relationships among core constructs, and documents the chronological development of the framework from its initial articulation through canonical consolidation. Where the Parts extend the source publications, those extensions are identified explicitly, including the six-pattern diagnostic, the structural-conditions model, and the analysis of generative systems. The corpus consists of four integrated Parts: Part I: Meta-Recursive Cognition Framework (MRCF): Models constructive recursive cognition, articulating ten principles, a four-mode inquiry taxonomy, and characteristic failure modes. Part II: Meta-Recursive Validation Protocol (MRVP) and Cognitive Authority Retention Protocol (CARP): Introduces a structured methodology for framework self-analysis without circular reasoning and a practitioner-level discipline for preserving epistemic sovereignty during AI-mediated analytical work. Part III: The Weaponization of Recursive Cognition: Analyzes the adversarial inversion of recursive dynamics in propaganda and information systems, formalizing diagnostic patterns, structural conditions of recursive capture, and the effects of generative systems on the economics of coherence. Part IV: Provenance and Terminological Clarification: Documents conceptual lineage, terminological evolution, deprecated RCF-era terminology, publication history, and scope boundaries separating epistemic foundations from governance architectures addressed elsewhere. Across all Parts, the unifying concept is deterministic cognition: an epistemic discipline requiring that recursive processes terminate in correspondence to verifiable reality rather than in self-referential coherence alone. This volume is offered as a contribution to philosophy of mind, epistemology, reflexive methodology, human-AI interaction research, media epistemology, and propaganda studies. The Canonical Edition establishes a stable citation target for ongoing scholarly examination, critique, replication, and extension.