What is the PSE Research Programme?
The PSE Research Programme investigates a deceptively simple question:
how does organization arise, persist, and change?
Its starting point is the Principle of Systematic Exclusion (PSE), first formulated by H.Ch.J. Stolting in 1973. PSE proposes that organization arises and persists through systematic exclusion: within a given context, the exclusion of particular relations, states, or possibilities constrains what can become and remain organized. Through this process, organizational boundaries and patterns of persistence can be maintained over time.
The research programme investigates whether this principle can provide a domain-independent conceptual framework for understanding organization across physical, biological, cognitive, and social systems.
A scientific research programme
PSE is developed here as a proposed domain-independent organizational principle. Its scientific value must therefore be assessed through conceptual consistency, explanatory power, empirical fertility, and its capacity to connect established knowledge across disciplines.
The programme therefore distinguishes carefully between established scientific knowledge, interpretations derived from existing research, and propositions specific to PSE.
The research programme
PSE is developed through a series of research monographs. Together, they form a cumulative programme: foundational concepts are introduced first and subsequently developed across different forms, scales, and domains of organization.
Monograph No. 1 — Foundational Charter
Defines the scientific, epistemological, and methodological foundations of the PSE Research Programme.
Monograph No. 1A — Canonical Glossary and Conceptual Dependency Map
Defines the programme’s core concepts and specifies their conceptual relations and dependencies.
Monograph No. 2 — Ontology of Organization
Examines organization itself: what it means for something to constitute and persist as an organization.
Monograph No. 3 — Individuality in the Context of Systematic Exclusion
Investigates how biological individuals arise and persist across different levels of biological organization, and how individuality can be understood in terms of organizational boundaries, relations, and persistence.
Monograph No. 4 — Reflective Organization and Transgression
Extends the analysis to organisms capable of constructing representations of themselves and their world, and examines what happens when internally coherent representations lose congruence with their context.
Monograph No. 5 — Consciousness in the Context of Systematic Exclusion
Examines consciousness as a problem of organization and develops the implications of PSE for conscious experience.
Monograph No. 6 — Artificial Intelligence in the Context of Systematic Exclusion
Investigates artificial intelligence through the distinction between organization, representation, coherence, and contextual congruence.
Monograph No. 7 — Institutions in the Context of Systematic Exclusion
Extends the framework to institutional organization and the persistence of socially organized structures.
Monograph No. 8 — Ethics in the Context of Systematic Exclusion
Investigates the implications of systematic exclusion, reflection, congruence, and transgression for ethical organization.
Monograph No. 9 — Attachment, Love and Social Cohesion in the Context of Systematic Exclusion
Examines the organizational foundations of attachment, interpersonal relations, and social cohesion.
Monograph No. 10 — Civilization and Cultural Evolution in the Context of Systematic Exclusion
Extends the analysis to large-scale cultural organization and the emergence, persistence, and transformation of civilizations.
The sequence is deliberate. Each monograph builds on concepts established earlier in the programme. The aim is therefore not a collection of separate applications of PSE, but a progressively developed investigation of organization across scales and domains.
Where should I begin?
You do not need to read the research programme from beginning to end. There are different ways into PSE, depending on what you are looking for.
If you are new to PSE
Start with the shorter essays and introductory pieces published here, on LinkedIn and at RoosterRiddle.com. They explore individual questions in accessible form and introduce the central ideas without requiring familiarity with the full theoretical framework.
If you want to examine the scientific framework
Begin with Monograph No. 1 — Foundational Charter, followed by Monograph No. 1A — Canonical Glossary and Conceptual Dependency Map. Together, they establish the programme’s methodological foundations, terminology, and conceptual architecture.
If you are interested in a particular domain
The later monographs develop specific problems of organization — from biological individuality and reflective organization to consciousness, artificial intelligence, institutions, ethics, social cohesion, and civilization. Each should be read in relation to the conceptual foundations established earlier in the programme.
Essays and shorter publications
Alongside the research monographs, this Substack will publish shorter essays, conceptual explorations, explanatory pieces, visualizations, and announcements of new publications.
These texts serve a different purpose from the monographs. Some are written for a general readership; others explore particular scientific or philosophical problems in greater depth. Where relevant, they will indicate which claims derive from established research and which are propositions developed within PSE.
Earlier essays and background material are also available at RoosterRiddle.com.
An invitation to critical inquiry
The PSE Research Programme is conceived as a scientific framework open to criticism, comparison, and revision. Its propositions must be examined against established theories, relevant evidence, and alternative explanations.
Critical responses are therefore welcome — especially where PSE misrepresents established research, overlooks relevant literature, makes insufficiently precise claims, or generates propositions that could be investigated empirically.
The programme is intended to develop through that continuing process of comparison, criticism, empirical investigation, and revision.
About the author
H.Ch.J. Stolting is a biologist with a background in ecology, microbiology, and systems/environmental theory. He first formulated the Principle of Systematic Exclusion during his biology studies at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 1973.