APS is being developed as both a conceptual framework and a scholarly research program. This page gathers the formal publications, preprints, and platform resources through which the framework is being articulated, tested, and extended.
Foundational peer-reviewed publication
Agency as the Defining Activity of Life: A Viability-Oriented Framework Integrating Process and Scale
Spencer, R. D. (2026). Biological Theory.
This article provides the first peer-reviewed formal presentation of APS as a viability-oriented framework for understanding life. It argues that biological agency is not an optional feature added to living systems, but the defining activity through which living organisation sustains itself across process and scale.
DOI · SharedIt full-text access
Evolutionary theory
Natural Selection and Organised Persistence: An Organisational Analysis of Evolutionary Conditions
Spencer, R. D. (2026). SSRN preprint.
This paper extends APS into evolutionary explanation by analysing natural selection through the conditions under which organised biological persistence becomes differentially sustained across generations.
Cognition and agency
Biological Agency as the Context for Plant Cognition
Spencer, R. D. (2025). Zenodo.
This work develops an earlier expression of the APS approach by situating plant cognition within the wider context of biological agency. It contributes to the framework’s treatment of cognition as a biological and organisational phenomenon rather than as a merely computational or representational process.
Platform publication
APS_WEB: A Viability-Oriented Framework for Understanding Life
Spencer, R. D. (2026). APS Framework.
APS_WEB is the public explanatory architecture of the APS framework. It develops the framework across orientation articles, conceptual analyses, glossary entries, visual explanations, diagnostic interfaces, and cross-linked research layers.
How to cite APS
For formal scholarly citation, readers should cite the relevant publication directly. For the website as a structured explanatory resource, cite APS_WEB as the public platform of the framework.
Further guidance is available in the Citation Policy.