If genotypes are theories of possible phenotypes, then the environment is the context in which those theories are put to the test. No phenotype emerges in isolation. Developmental environments — from temperature, nutrition, and social interactions to chemical gradients and ecological pressures — shape which trajectories of the genotype are realised.
Relational ontology frames this not as determinism or randomness, but as individuation through perspectival actualisation: the phenotype is a cut through potential, produced relationally between genotype and environment.
The Environment as Co-Author of Phenotypes
Phenotypes are often thought of as products of genes alone, but every actualisation is a co-creation with the environment. The same genetic potential can yield divergent outcomes depending on context:
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Nutrient availability can determine growth rate, leaf size, or branching patterns in plants.
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Social hierarchy in animals can influence hormone levels and the development of secondary sexual characteristics.
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Microbial phenotypes shift depending on chemical composition or competition in their habitat.
In each case, the environment is not merely a backdrop; it is structurally entangled with the genotype in producing the actualised phenotype.
Perspectival Cuts and Multiple Possibilities
Every individual phenotype represents a perspectival cut through the field of potential encoded by the genotype. Multiple factors — internal and external — constrain which trajectory is taken.
Consider temperature-dependent sex determination in reptiles: the same genotype can generate males or females depending on incubation temperature. Here, the environmental variable is the determining factor for which actualisation is instantiated.
The relational insight is clear: the cut is perspectival. The environment participates in individuation, and no single factor — genetic or environmental — holds causal supremacy.
Implications for Evolutionary Thinking
Understanding individuation as relationally mediated by environment reframes evolution itself. Selection acts not merely on pre-formed traits but on actualised trajectories within a field of potential.
This view illuminates why populations can adapt flexibly: the architecture of potential is robust and responsive, allowing multiple pathways of individuation to remain available even as selection acts.
The stage is now set to see evolution as transformation of structured potential, not just the selection of outcomes.
Transition to Post 3
In the next post, we will examine evolution itself as a transformation of structured potential. We will move from individual actualisations to population-level dynamics, showing how the architecture of possible phenotypes is reshaped over time.
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