APS Box — Processual Individuality Is Not Organismic Essence

APS rejects essentialist conceptions of biological individuality.

Organisms are not unified by immutable substances, fixed structures, or intrinsic organismic essences.

Instead, biological individuals persist through continuity-preserving organisation.

Their identity is realised through ongoing processes of maintenance, regulation, repair, development, and adaptation.

Processual individuality therefore explains how organisms remain themselves despite continual material and organisational change.

Biological identity is an organisational achievement rather than an expression of organismic essence.