Conventional framing
Homeorhesis is often presented as a complement to homeostasis, describing dynamic stability in systems that change over time. In many accounts, however, it remains loosely defined and is treated as a general systems concept without clear grounding in biological organisation. This can reduce it to a descriptive notion of “dynamic equilibrium” rather than an explanatory principle.
APS reframing
APS defines homeorhesis as a property of viability-oriented, constraint-closed organisation. Living systems do not maintain themselves as fixed states, but as trajectories sustained through continuous reorganisation. Homeorhesis therefore describes how persistence is enacted through change rather than despite it.
Homeorhetic regulation operates by reshaping constraint relations—physiological, developmental, behavioural, or ecological—so that organisation remains viable even as conditions fluctuate. This distinguishes it from homeostasis, which stabilises particular variables within defined ranges.
Homeorhesis is essential for adaptation and evolutionary organisation. It enables systems to maintain coherent organisation across changing conditions, linking present-time regulation with longer-term transformation. In this way, it provides the temporal mode through which agency maintains coherent organisation across change.
Key Point
Homeorhesis is the temporal mode of persistence in which viable trajectories are maintained through ongoing reorganisation in constraint-closed systems.