Dual Causality: A Formal Protocol for Natural and Rule Causality

Energy-Efficiency Theory (EET) reduces all valid cognition to two fundamental types of causality: Natural Causality and Rule Causality. The former describes causal chains of energy flow, constraint, and dissipation in real space; the latter describes deductive relations within artificially stipulated symbolic systems. This document provides a rigorous formal protocol for distinguishing these two modes of cognition, establishing their definitions, operational criteria, and transformation rules under the strict ontological boundaries of EET Core Rules v4. 2. We demonstrate that the ultimate distinction lies not in whether a cognitive product uses rules, but in the guarantor of its validity: real-space energy exchange (Natural Causality) versus internal symbolic consistency (Rule Causality). Using the cases of geocentrism, phlogiston theory, and pure mathematics, we show how to correctly classify models that employ rule-based structures. Geocentrism and phlogiston theory are models whose validity is ultimately guaranteed by real space, thus belonging to Natural Causality, while pure mathematics is a model whose validity is guaranteed by internal consistency, thus belonging to Rule Causality. This protocol provides the epistemological foundation for the Six Forms of Truth and the dynamic Energy-Efficiency Spectrum. By explicitly linking common epistemological mistakes to the Prohibited Moves in EET v4. 2 (Category Errors), this paper resolves confusions that have persistently plagued the philosophy of science, including the conflation of mathematical necessity with absolute truth.: Dual Causality; Natural Causality; Rule Causality; Epistemology; Energy-Efficiency Theory; Formal Protocol; Geocentrism; Phlogiston; Mathematics