Abstract

Hedwig Conrad-Martius’s Realontologie develops a realist phenomenology in which reality consists of formations of being (Seinsgebilde)—dynamic structures that sustain themselves through internal differentiation. This paper reinterprets her ontology as a theory of recursive formation: the real endures by re-entering the relations that compose it. Bridging phenomenology, systems theory, and structural realism, the argument presents Conrad-Martius as a precursor to recursive ontology. Being emerges as an architecture of self-organization, and phenomenology becomes the world’s reflection on its own formative act.