Civilizaciology: Basic Concepts and Terminological System

This paper establishes the foundational terminology of Civilizaciology — a new meta-science studying the civilizational level of organization of matter (Form 3 within the "Seven Forms of Matter" model). The author identifies and distinguishes five key concepts. First, civilizational matter is defined as the third level of organization of matter, emerging on a biological basis and characterized by external fixation of information, artificial habitats, impersonal governance institutions, division of labor, and feedback mechanisms. The term follows the same productive model as "living matter" and is fully legitimate by analogy. Second, a local civilization is a concrete historical instantiation of civilizational matter within a limited territory (e.g., Ancient Egypt, Rome). The paper explicitly redefines this term, distinguishing it from its use in historical civilizaciology (Toynbee, Huntington). Third, a pan planetary civilization is a local civilization that has encompassed an entire planet within a single intellectual-material system — a target state not yet achieved on Earth. Fourth, civilizaciogenesis denotes the process of emergence and formation of civilizational matter from a biological substrate. Fifth, the Teleon-Catalytic Impulse (TCI) is an emergent semantotechnical mechanism that, upon reaching threshold conditions, generates a short-term impulse triggering the irreversible actualization of civilizational matter. The term combines "impulse" (short-term character), "catalytic" (acceleration, autocatalysis), and "teleon" (internal directedness without external teleology, borrowed from biological teleonomy). The paper provides a historical-methodological account of each term's origin and resolves all conflicts with established terminology through explicit caveats and redefinitions. No internal contradictions remain. The terminological system is coherent, defensible, and ready for use in subsequent works, including a detailed exposition of TCI.