Egocentrization of the Fragment and the Decline of System Viability: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Fragment–Whole Relations

Abstract

This article proposes the concept of Egocentrization of the Fragment as a possible cross-disciplinary systemic pattern associated with the decline of viability in complex systems. The starting premise is the distinction between differentiation and fragmentation. Differentiation, specialization, and the relative autonomy of components are considered normal and often necessary properties of complex systems. The problem arises when a local component, model, criterion, interest, institution, or subsystem begins to treat its own partial perspective or function as sufficient for the wider system, thereby weakening cross-level feedback, coordination, and the capacity to account for consequences beyond its own boundary. The following dynamic sequence is proposed: Differentiation → Specialization → Local Optimization → Quantitative Amplification → Absolutization → Claim of the Fragment to the Role of the Whole → Fragment-Centered Dominance → Weakening of Feedback → Growth of Systemic Noise → Disruption of Coordination → Displacement of Viability Costs → Fragmentation → Decline of System Viability. Particular attention is given to the quantitative-to-qualitative transition in fragment–whole relations. It is hypothesized that quantitative amplification of the autonomy, influence, replication, or resource dominance of a fragment does not necessarily reduce system viability linearly. Once a system-dependent threshold is reached, accumulated quantitative changes may produce a qualitative restructuring of fragment–whole relations and a transition of the system into a different viability state. The concept is considered in relation to biological systems, medicine, ecology, scientific knowledge, informational and cognitive systems, technical systems, artificial intelligence, organizations, culture, social systems, states, and global interactions. Biological and medical examples are treated as structural correspondences and functional analogies rather than as substitutes for specific genetic, molecular, immunological, infectious, or physiological explanations of disease. As a constructive alternative, the article develops the concept of Coordinated Diversity, in which differentiated components preserve their functions and relative autonomy while remaining connected through feedback, mutual constraints, coordination, and compatibility with the viability of the wider system. The working concept of a Parasitic Viability Relation is also introduced to describe a systemically asymmetric regime in which the preservation or strengthening of the local viability of one component is accompanied by sustained expenditure of the resources, functions, or regenerative capacity of a wider system. Egocentrization of the Fragment is proposed not as a universal cause of pathology, but as a candidate cross-domain systemic pattern that may be realized through different specific mechanisms at different levels of organization. Its universality requires further comparative research, formalization, and empirical evaluation. Keywords Vitology; viability; Egocentrization of the Fragment; fragment–whole relations; differentiation; specialization; local optimization; fragment dominance; quantitative-to-qualitative transition; Harmony Norm; Systemic Noise; feedback; coordination; regeneration; Coordinated Diversity; Parasitic Viability Relation; biological systems; medicine; ecology; technical systems; artificial intelligence; scientific knowledge; social systems.