Norms Are Not Rules

In APS, biological normativity does not refer to externally imposed rules or prescriptions.

Norms arise because living systems exist under viability-sensitive conditions in which some states support persistence while others undermine it.

A failing heart is biologically problematic not because it violates a rule, but because impaired circulation threatens the continued organisation of the organism itself.

Biological norms are therefore internally grounded asymmetries within viability-oriented organisation rather than externally imposed standards.