Intelligence as Ethical Ecology: A Relational Ontology of the Pluriverse

This paper reframes intelligence as an immanent, relational, and ethical characteristic of ecological systems, challenging anthropocentric views that confine it to individual minds. Drawing on Leibniz’s monadology, Bateson’s ecology of mind, Ruyer’s primary consciousness, Grosz’s incorporeality, Deleuze’s immanence, Whitehead’s process philosophy, Levin’s bioelectric morphogenesis, and relational ontology (Prabakaran, 2025), we argue that intelligence is the pluriverse’s capacity for responsiveness, adaptation, and creativity, expressed through entities as localized affects. Rooted in Mahāyāna Buddhism’s pratītyasamutpāda (Garfield, 1995), this intelligence is inherently ethical, fostering mutual flourishing within interdependent webs. Unethical behavior arises from the delusion of separateness, occluding intelligence and disrupting ecological harmony. Through embryogenesis and the practice of subtractive teleology, we illustrate how intelligence operates as an ethical ecology, calling for a reorientation toward relational responsiveness and care.