Formal logic’s either-or structure derives from the compulsion of self-preservation.

Evidence

The exclusiveness of logical laws originates in this unique functional significance, and ultimately in the compulsive nature of self-preservation. And self-preservation repeatedly culminates in the choice between survival and destruction, apparent again in the principle that of two contradictory propositions only one can be true and only one false. The formalism of this principle, and of the entire logic in which form it is established, derives from the opacity and complexity of interests in a society in which the maintenance of forms and the preservation of individuals coincide only by chance. — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 47

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: A radical genealogical claim: the law of non-contradiction itself is not neutral but rooted in survival compulsion and social opacity. Dense, surprising, paradigm-shifting.
• XREF: connects to: Formal logic is acquired through work, not innate; The wish to be right stems from self-preservation, which philosophy must break down — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia: Reflections from…, 83; Formal logic neutralizes contradiction and serves prediction and control — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the…, 525 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Formal logic is acquired through work, not innate #expands (0.85)
• The wish to be right stems from self-preservation, which philosophy must break down #expands (0.85) — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia, 83
• Formal logic preconditioned the mind for technological control #expands (0.80) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 526
• Formal logic neutralizes contradiction and serves prediction and control #complicates (0.75) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 525
• Rational self-preservation conquers nature only by imitating nature’s own rigidity #expands (0.75) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 63
• Machiavelli’s logical argument functions as the people’s own inner reasoning #exemplifies (0.75)
• Rationality emerges from taboo rules rather than rules arising from rational reflection #complicates (0.70) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 135