Ontology of Finite Continuance and the Political Economy of Erosion: Formulating a Conceptual Framework for the Analysis of Open Systems Under Chronic Instability

This article formulates a coherent philosophical apparatus designated as the ontology of finite continuance. The fundamental problem of this apparatus is that the finite being is not a stable substance but a temporary stabilization within a field of leakage and erosion. The architecture of the apparatus is established upon a three-tiered structure. The ontological level comprises three foundational concepts: finitude, leakage, and erosion. The structural dynamics level comprises two concepts: regulation and reconfiguration. The level of theoretical derivatives comprises the concepts of threshold of sufficiency, homeorhesis, dynamic mask, responsible suspension, emergent teleology, and recursive intentionality. From this level, normative and political derivatives—including ethics of sufficiency, political economy of erosion, constructive leakage, and reverse leakage—are deduced. The central thesis of the article is that the continuance of a finite system does not mean the preservation of its fixed form but the preservation of its reconfigurative capacity under conditions of erosion. Power in this condition is less the ownership of resources than the capacity to regulate the rhythm of erosion, permeability, and observability. In this article, alongside the presentation of a conceptual formal model for the threshold of sufficiency, the precise distinction of the apparatus from existing philosophical and theoretical traditions is explained, and the strongest objections and their responses are examined. Keywords: finite continuance, ontology of erosion, regulation of leakage, threshold of sufficiency, dynamic mask, political economy of erosion, emergent teleology, responsible suspension