This work advances a minimal structural thesis: living systems are bounded, history-sensitive dynamical systems whose continued existence depends on preserving connected viable futures under finite constraint. Drawing on dynamical systems theory, stress physiology, ecology, economics, and governance theory, the book formalizes viability topology as the minimal metaphysical structure underlying living systems.
Persistence requires sustained interiority within a viability set K. Repeated imbalance encodes structural deformation, producing curvature, tipping points, hysteresis, and basin multiplicity. Reachable future space V(s) defines optionality. Control processes function to preserve or expand this space. Ontology, epistemology, and axiology are therefore dynamically unified: boundary defines being, constraint forecasting defines knowledge, and preservation of viable futures defines minimal value.
The framework is applied across scale. In medicine, chronic disease is interpreted as entrenchment-induced basin narrowing. In economics, growth detached from regenerative capacity is shown to steepen curvature and increase instability. In governance, cross-scale integration is evaluated according to preservation of coupled viable space across time.
The result is a unified grammar of viability capable of diagnosing structural fragility in biological, institutional, and civilizational systems. The central evaluative question becomes: does a given action widen or narrow the space in which the future remains possible?










