APS introduces a specific explanatory grammar for biology. It does not rely on a number of common assumptions that are often taken for granted in other frameworks.
-
No reduction to parts as primary explanans
APS does not assume that biological explanation is fundamentally about decomposing systems into constituent parts. -
No primacy of genetic or informational code
Genes and information are treated as components within organised systems, not as the defining basis of life. -
No hierarchy of fixed levels of organisation
APS does not assume discrete levels (e.g. gene → cell → organism) as ontological layers; it works with continuous, interacting scales. -
No requirement for representation or internal models
Basic biological regulation does not depend on representational content; viability-oriented modulation precedes representation. -
No external assignment of function or purpose
Function and purpose are not imposed by observers but arise from the organisation of viability-oriented activity. -
No separation between organism and environment as independent systems
Organism and environment are understood as dynamically coupled aspects of a single viability-oriented process. -
No assumption that normativity is mental or subjective
Biological normativity is enacted through organisation and does not depend on consciousness or experience.
APS does not reject these concepts outright, but reinterprets them within a framework grounded in viability-oriented, constraint-closed organisation.
Key Point. APS reframes common biological assumptions within a viability-oriented, constraint-closed framework rather than accepting them as explanatory primitives.