Orienting Potential: Readiness, Inclination, and Ability in a Relational Ecology I

In our ongoing exploration of relational ontology, we have traced the contours of systems as horizons of possibility, metabolic networks of constraint and facilitation, and ecological fields that both enable and delimit instantiation. But a question persists: how do we interpret potential in this framework? What does it mean for a system—or a phenomenon—to possess potential?

To answer this, we must shift our perspective. Potential is not a static property, a latent “thing” waiting to be realised. In a relational ontology, potential is a triadic phenomenon, expressed through three interdependent dimensions: readiness, inclination, and ability. Each corresponds to a different relational layer of the system:

1. Readiness: The Horizon of Possibility

Readiness captures the system’s alignment with its surrounding horizon. It describes how poised a system is to actualise certain possibilities, given the current configuration of the environment and the relational field.

A system may be ready for certain instantiations because conditions in its horizon make them accessible. Readiness is relational—it emerges from the interplay of system and context, not from an intrinsic “preparedness.”

2. Inclination: The Metabolic Bias

Inclination is the system’s directional tendency, shaped by metabolic and dispositional patterns. It is the system’s preferred trajectory within the landscape of potential, reflecting its past interactions, energetic rhythms, and internal structuring.

Unlike readiness, inclination does not guarantee immediate actualisation. It expresses tendency, a weighting of possibilities relative to the system’s own metabolic character.

3. Ability: The Ecological Feasibility

Ability corresponds to the concrete capacities a system possesses to bring forth instantiations. It is determined by metabolic resources, structural affordances, and ecological constraints.

A system may be able to actualise something even if it is neither ready nor inclined at the moment; conversely, readiness and inclination are meaningless without sufficient ability to enact potential within the ecological field.

A Triadic Relational Profile of Potential

These three dimensions—horizon, metabolic, and ecological—do not operate independently. Together, they form a relational profile of potential:

• Horizon → Readiness: What is poised to emerge?

• Metabolic → Inclination: What does the system tend toward?

• Ecological → Ability: What can feasibly emerge?

Different configurations yield distinct potentialities. A system might be highly ready but lack ability; inclined but unready; or able but without inclination. Each profile shapes the unfolding of possibility in unique ways.

In short, potential is not a hidden capacity but a perspectival, dynamic, and relational phenomenon. It is always actualisable only relative to horizon, metabolic, and ecological fields. Understanding it in these terms allows us to map the landscape of possibility without ever assuming an intrinsic “power” within the system.