The Complete Self-as-an-End Framework

This paper is the third and final paper in the Self-as-an-End theory series, serving as the unified framework. Paper One analyzed how systemic emergence erodes the conditions of personhood at the institutional level. Paper Two analyzed internal colonization at the individual level, intimate colonization at the relational level, and their cross-layer transmission. This paper integrates all three layers into a single framework and establishes a complete cross-layer transmission model. The paper advances five contributions: (1) a philosophical grounding of the two-dimensional meta-structure in negativity and positivity as constitutive dimensions of subjectivity; (2) a demonstration that all three layers share the same meta-structure, with boundaries of isomorphism established; (3) a functional asymmetry thesis assigning each layer a distinct structural role; (4) a six-directional transmission model and minimum unlock condition thesis; (5) a virtuous cycle initiation thesis. Being an end in itself is not a fixed property but a structural ecology that obtains if and only if the base layer and emergence layer maintain dialectical tension in balance across all three layers. This is an open, evolving framework. Comments, applications, counter-examples, and cross-cultural feedback are warmly welcomed and will be publicly acknowledged in future iterations.