The Quality of Mercy and Survival

Consider the predator prey dynamical configuration given in the model of automata spiral waveforms by V. Biktashev. This system may be taken as a simplified generalization for the dynamics of the biosphere. One of the properties inherent in that system is the development of pockets of relative overabundance of the prey population, allowing for different types of activity outside the confines of the struggle for survival. This might be characterized as a new dimensionality qualitatively distinct from the assumed phase space metric inherent in the model. In actual fact, the excess of energy over and above that required for mere survival is exhibited across the boundaries of species and their respective predator prey relationships. One description of this state of affairs which is especially apt is given by F. Schiller. It is the motivation for establishing aesthetics on a scientific basis as opposed to viewing “taste” as an operation of irrational will. That which is truly beautiful in playfulness by necessity promotes the continued survivability of human society. This idea is the very soul of irony because it brings together apparently immiscible extremes. The ability to understand this type of concept is what characterizes a higher function of mind which is uniquely human. The resolution of the paradox of Cervantes’ Sancho Panza where he sacrifices his adherence to the strictures of formal rules by adopting the higher quality of mercy is exemplary of this quality. This is why any attempt to impose a mechanistic Darwinian framework for approaching human psychology, economics, and aesthetics is inherently vitiated from the outset. Further, it is not a matter of mere faith or belief that justifies the necessary existence of an ongoing Creative Universality, it is a provable fact as demonstrated by Plato, Ibn Sina, Nicholas of Cusa, and Leibniz, et al. The only scientific meaning of evil which is permissible is the radical denial of this principle, which is tantamount to Jean Paul Genet’s description of a death wish among the oligarchy. Unfortunately, this condition is quite widespread today...