Neuronal Potential: Actualisation and Individuation — Series Introduction

How does the brain transform potential into functional, individuated patterns? Neuronal Potential: Actualisation and Individuation explores this question through the lens of relational ontology and Edelman’s Theory of Neuronal Group Selection (TNGS). Neural systems are fields of potential, and the processes of actualisation (instantiation of ensembles) and individuation reveal how these potentials are structured, differentiated, and recursively propagated.

This series examines:

• The preconditions that enable neuronal instances to emerge — structured potential, synaptic constraints, relational frames, and stabilising scaffolds;

• The consequences of neural actualisation and individuation — functional novelty, constraint propagation, recursive shaping of potential, and semiotic-functional embedding;

• The synthesis, showing how neural potential unfolds as a continuous relational process, giving rise to cognition, perception, and conscious experience.

Readers are invited to trace the dynamics of neural potential across scales — from microcircuits to distributed networks — revealing how neuronal instances arise, differentiate, and recursively transform the landscape of cognitive and perceptual possibilities.