Core Cognitive Frameworks

2. Core Cognitive Frameworks


2.1 Dissection-to-Direction (D2D) Protocol

2.1.1 Purpose

Provide a rigorous, step-by-step cognitive workflow for transforming:

  • raw material (notes, sources, transcripts, studies)
  • into clarified structure
  • into actionable insight
  • into final, publishable output.

D2D is the primary intellectual engine of DG Humana.

2.1.2 Structure

The D2D Protocol proceeds through four sequential phases:

Phase 1: Dissection

  • Extract claims, concepts, assumptions, and argumentative components.
  • Identify embedded frameworks, epistemic commitments, and theoretical lineages.
  • Break down the text into its smallest analytical units.

Phase 2: Distillation

  • Reduce each extracted unit to its essential meaning.
  • Clarify ambiguities and strip rhetorical noise.
  • Identify overlaps, redundancies, and contradictions.
  • Surface hidden assumptions and implicit claims.

Phase 3: Direction

  • Rebuild the distilled units into a coherent structure.
  • Identify patterns, hierarchy, and causal relationships.
  • Generate insight: what follows? what breaks? what unlocks?
  • Translate the structure into academic, practical, or strategic outputs.

Phase 4: Execution

  • Produce final deliverables (essays, analyses, presentations, system cards, etc.).
  • Validate internal coherence.
  • Archive the dissection and distillation layers for future reuse.

2.2 Axiomatic Audit Protocol

2.2.1 Purpose

Surface, interrogate, and evaluate the foundational assumptions underlying any argument, study, worldview, or personal belief structure.

The protocol is a tool for epistemic hygiene and intellectual integrity.

2.2.2 Audit Layers

Layer 1: Explicit Assertions

Identify declarative claims.

Layer 2: Implicit Assumptions

Document the premises that are presupposed but not stated.

Layer 3: Framework-Level Commitments

Determine the philosophical, epistemological, and methodological frameworks being used (e.g., empiricism, rationalism, functionalism, phenomenology).

Layer 4: Motivated Cognition Check

Ask: what does the thinker want to be true, and is this affecting reasoning?

Layer 5: Category Integrity Check

Ensure separation between:

  • epistemology and ontology
  • normative and descriptive claims
  • phenomenology and mechanism
  • inference and speculation

Layer 6: Coherence and Necessity

Evaluate whether the assumptions:

  • cohere with each other
  • are necessary to the argument
  • are proportionate to the claims being made