Describing a biological phenomenon is not the same as explaining it.
Statements such as:
- “the organism adapts”
- “the system survives”
- “the behaviour is goal-directed”
may accurately describe observable patterns without identifying the organisational conditions that make those patterns possible.
APS distinguishes description from explanation by asking what viability-oriented organisation sustains the phenomenon being described.
Explanation therefore requires more than naming outcomes, behaviours, or patterns. It requires identifying the organised processes through which living systems maintain viability and persist through time.