Constitutional Intelligence
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This paper proposes a constitutional theory of intelligence. Most theories locate intelligence within agents, representations, models, or optimization procedures. Intelligence is treated as a property possessed by an entity. The constitutional perspective begins elsewhere. The framework proposes that intelligence may be a property of admissible continuation itself. Within this view, agents are participants in constitutional structures that shape the space of possible futures. Intelligent behavior emerges when constitutional structure systematically preserves viable continuation across changing conditions. The object of analysis becomes neither representation nor optimization but the geometry of admissible futures. The paper introduces: constitutional intelligence, continuation intelligence, intelligence density, constitutional cognition. The central claim is that many systems commonly described as intelligent possess no identifiable intelligent component. Their apparent intelligence arises from participation within constitutional structures whose admissible continuations are themselves adaptive, coherent, and robust. The framework does not deny the existence of intelligent agents. It proposes that intelligence may exist at a deeper organizational level than agents themselves. Intelligence may be a property of continuation before it becomes a property of participants.
Author: Ableman, Adam
Language: English
Topic: Complex Systems and Dynamics
Subfield: Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7224994864