A Minimal Ontology of Organization

A Minimal Ontology of Organization presents a domain-independent ontology for organized systems. The document identifies a minimal collection of organizational primitives intended to apply across physical, biological, computational, economic, social, and engineered systems without assuming any particular mathematical formalism. The ontology is based on the following organizational objects: Focal system Observational resolution Environment Operational requirements Potential Constraints State Rate Coupling From these primitives, geometry is treated as an emergent consequence of organizational realization rather than as a primitive object. The ontology is intended to provide a common conceptual foundation upon which multiple mathematical frameworks—including, but not limited to, viability theory, constrained optimization, hybrid systems, and control barrier functions—may be interpreted as different mathematical realizations of the same organizational objects. This document defines the ontology itself. Questions of literature positioning, priority, and relationships to existing theoretical frameworks are addressed in a separate companion document.