The Structured Intelligence Learner (SIL): A Coherence-Based Architecture of Human Learning and Development

Most theories of human learning describe development as the accumulation of knowledge, skills, or behavioral competencies. While such models explain localized performance gains, they do not adequately account for cross-domain generalization, identity-level transformation, or the stability of reasoning under increasing abstraction and contradiction. This paper introduces the Structured Intelligence Learner (SIL), a structural theory of human learning that defines development as the stabilization of coherence under increasing integrative load. SIL formalizes learning as the progressive organization of an internal Coherence Integration Kernel (CIK) that binds perception, cognition, relational modeling, and identity into a unified, recursive architecture. Human learning, under SIL, proceeds through discontinuous phase transitions between stable coherence bands (SIL-1 through SIL-7). Each transition requires reorganization of the CIK to support greater abstraction depth, contradiction tolerance, and cross-domain integration. Development is therefore constrained, non-linear, and asymmetrically fragile. This foundational paper establishes SIL as a theory of human learning, independent of applied domains or artificial intelligence extensions. This version includes minor clarifications to scope and framing and is intended as a foundational account of SIL as a human developmental architecture.