What question did this study set out to answer?

This work aims to establish a mechanistic framework for understanding continuity in first-person experiences over time.

February 19, 2026Open Access

Ontological Resilience Theory (ORT): Canonical Framework

Key Points

This work aims to establish a mechanistic framework for understanding continuity in first-person experiences over time.
Defined continuity distinct from identity and affect.
Introduced constructs like substitution dynamics and alignment discovery.
Developed an objection-elimination protocol for conceptual stabilization.
Clarified the distinction between continuity and other psychological constructs.
Provided a structured approach for analyzing continuity dynamics.
Established a framework applicable to various psychological and system-design contexts.

Abstract

Ontological Resilience Theory (ORT) is a bounded mechanistic framework defining continuity as the mechanism-set preserving interior authorship of first-person experience across time. ORT distinguishes continuity from identity, affect, narrative, or regulation and introduces substitution dynamics, alignment discovery, and rupture conditions as explanatory constructs. Scope: ORT is not a theory of consciousness, therapy model, diagnostic system, or moral framework. It is intended as a conceptual risk lens and analytic framework for examining continuity dynamics across psychological, behavioural, and system-design contexts. This deposit contains the canonical framework and the formal objection-elimination protocol used to stabilise its conceptual structure.

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