Metaphorum 2026 · Toward Resilient and Ethical Viable Systems

Beyond Viability: Ontological Foundations for Ethical and Regenerative Systems

Purpose: This paper argues that resilient, ethical, and regenerative systems cannot be fully understood without examining the assumptions on which they are built. By ontology, the paper refers to the underlying assumptions a system makes about human beings, value, relationship, responsibility, and the wider living world. Methods: The paper develops a conceptual and practice-oriented argument drawing on organisational cybernetics, systems thinking, institutional analysis, and practitioner reflection. It examines how different ontological assumptions shape system purpose, feedback, accountability, incentive design, and definitions of viability. Particular attention is given to the contrast between separative assumptions, where actors, organisations, and ecosystems are treated as largely independent units, and relational assumptions, where agency is understood within shared fields of consequence. Findings: The paper suggests that systems built on fragmented assumptions tend to reproduce fragmented responsibility, externalised harm, procedural compliance, and short-term adaptation without deeper regeneration. Under pressure, ethical commitments become fragile when added as policy layers rather than embedded in the system’s foundational logic. Implications/Contributions: The paper contributes to discussions on viable and regenerative systems by proposing ontology as a practical design layer. It argues that sustainable governance requires coherence between what a system claims to preserve and what its underlying assumptions actually make possible. Ethical viability therefore depends on more coherent assumptions about interdependence, responsibility, and shared life. Speaker: Jeremy Pryce — Projekt Bergsjön

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