Readiness, Inclination, Ability: A Relational Ontology of Embryogenesis: 7 System as Theory: The Organism as the Ongoing Recutting of Potential

Introduction

Up to this point, we have traced embryogenesis through ability, inclination, individuation, differentiation, and morphogenesis. Each post has focused on specific layers of readiness within the developing organism. Now we step back to view the organism as a system — a theory of its own potential.

Rather than seeing development as a sequence of outcomes or discrete stages, the organism can be understood as a continual recutting of potential. Its identity, form, and capacities are not static; they are negotiated, enacted, and continually revised through the interplay of distributed readiness.

The Organism as a System-of-Theory

In relational ontology, a system is not a set of objects, but a structured potentiality — a theory of possible instances. The organism embodies:

• Ability: the full horizon of what is possible at any given stage.

• Inclination: directional biases within that horizon.

• Individuation: local perspectives that enact potential.

Development is therefore a continual instantiation of system-theoretic potential: each cellular event, tissue interaction, and morphogenetic process is a cut through the organismal theory, creating perspectival actualisations.

Recutting Potential

“Recutting” is a process in which the organism:

• Reassesses distributed abilities as cells proliferate, migrate, or differentiate.

• Re-aligns inclinations based on local and global interactions.

• Updates individuation fields as new positional and relational contexts emerge.

Each moment of development is therefore not a mere unfolding, but a reconfiguration of readiness across scales. The organism constantly negotiates between global potential and local actualisation.

Implications for Understanding Development

Viewing the organism as a system-of-theory clarifies several phenomena:

• Robustness: the system tolerates perturbations because potential is distributed and recut relationally.

• Plasticity: inclinations and abilities are continuously realigned, allowing adaptive responses.

• Emergence: form and function arise from repeated perspectival cuts, not pre-determined scripts.

This lens unifies epigenetics, differentiation, and morphogenesis under a single conceptual framework of dynamic, distributed readiness.

Looking Forward

Post 8 will draw out the broader implications of this ontology for developmental biology, evolutionary theory, and how we conceptualise life itself. By stepping back from the organism to the theory it enacts, we can see development as a relational, ongoing negotiation of potential, rather than a linear unfolding of genetic instructions.