Dialectical logic cannot be formal because reality itself is concrete.

Evidence

Hegel detects in the critical philosophy of his time the “fear of the object” (Angst vor dem Objekt), and he demands that a genuinely scientific thought overcome this position of fear and comprehend the “logical and the pure-rational” (das Logische, das Rein-Vernünftige) in the very concreteness of its objects. Dialectical logic cannot be formal because it is determined by the real, which is concrete. And this concreteness, far from militating against a system of general principles and concepts, requires such a system of logic because it moves under general laws which make for the rationality of the real. It is the rationality of contradiction, of the opposition of forces, tendencies, elements, which constitutes the movement of the real and, if comprehended, the concept of the real. — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 532

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines dialectical logic against formal logic by grounding it in the concrete, contradictory movement of the real.
• XREF: connects to: Established reality structurally resists the logic of contradiction. — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the…, 536; A self-consistent philosophy can be completely false while inconsistent systems hold truth — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2213; Reality never conforms to abstract theoretical schemas. (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Reality never conforms to abstract theoretical schemas. #corroborates (0.88)
• Established reality structurally resists the logic of contradiction. #corroborates (0.85) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 536
• Dialectical logic must eliminate all remaining traces of deductive systems #expands (0.80)
• Large abstractions are social constructs despite real physical reality existing. #corroborates (0.78) — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, 176
• A self-consistent philosophy can be completely false while inconsistent systems hold truth #complicates (0.75) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2213
• Dialectical thinking requires abstraction from existing forms to form general concepts. #qualifies (0.72) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 12