The Core Emotion Framework Beyond Brain Theory: A Structural-Constructivist Architecture of the Human Operating System

Contemporary affective science remains divided between discrete emotion theories and constructivist models, producing a persistent “narrative ambiguity” that obscures the functional mechanisms of emotional life. The Core Emotion Framework (CEF) offers a structural constructivist alternative by modeling the psyche as a Human Operating System composed of ten irreducible functional operators. This paper demonstrates that the CEF’s validity is independent of the literal truth of right–left brain lateralization, a theory now widely recognized as scientifically outdated. While the CEF uses lateralization as a somatic directional heuristic, its functional architecture is grounded in mechanical requirements—such as midline crossing, bilateral integration, and operator specific movement patterns—rather than neurological localization. The framework’s mathematical state transition model, somatic primacy, and operator level mechanics provide a hardware independent account of emotional functioning that remains robust across biological, synthetic, and institutional systems. By clarifying the structural autonomy of the CEF and introducing the detangled operator model, this paper establishes a functional resolution to the limitations of brain theory literalism and advances the CEF as a reproducible, open science architecture for emotional governance. Keywords: Core Emotion Framework; structural constructivism; Human Operating System; operator mechanics; bilateral integration; midline crossing; somatic primacy; emotional architecture; brain lateralization; right–left brain myth; functional affective science; detangling protocol; operator independence; mathematical state transitions; synthetic affect; embodied cognition.