On the Formal Isomorphism of Foundational and Stabilizing Operations: A Prolegomenon to a General Theory of Rational Gestures

I must begin with the central problem my thesis purports to solve: the intolerableschism between Genesis and Structure. My central hypothesis, that of metastablesuperposition, posits that a field of knowledge is a layered, stratified system whosefecundity derives from its internal tensions. A crisis of sursaturation is resolvedby a ‘geste savant’—a foundational act that reconfigures the system’s productivepotential. This paper confronts this model with a concept from engineering: the‘Lever’. I will present the intellectual path that leads from an initial, negativedefinition of the Lever (as an instrument of fragility reduction) to a more powerful,positive one (as an operator of morphogenesis). This dialectical refinement allowsme to demonstrate the profound formal isomorphism between Geste and Lever astwo distinct modes of intervening on a system’s capacity for autopoiesis.