Rationality emerges from taboo rules rather than rules arising from rational reflection

Evidence

The taboo becomes the rational organization of the labor process. It ordains the pattern of war and peace, seedtime and harvest, the preparation of food and the slaughtering of animals. Whereas the rules do not arise from rational reflection, rationality arises from the rules. — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 135

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: A dense inversion — reason as a byproduct of obedience to taboo, not its cause. This is the genealogical core of Adorno’s whole project and resists quick summary.
• DEFINE: Clarifies the direction of causality that underlies the rationality-vs-myth thesis: rationality is a product of mythic discipline, not its overcoming.
• XREF: connects to: Formal logic’s either-or structure derives from the compulsion of self-preservation. — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 47; Normalization of anti-Muslim ideas produces a morally self-justifying rationalism — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 457; Technical rationality makes irrational social control appear reasonable and rational — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the…, 124 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Technical rationality makes irrational social control appear reasonable and rational #expands (0.78) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 124
• Rule-based machine ethics produce unintended emergent consequences #exemplifies (0.78) — , The Braided Reading EPUB, 1591
• Normalization of anti-Muslim ideas produces a morally self-justifying rationalism #expands (0.75) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 457
• Human freedom to begin new things resists the tyranny of logical deduction #contradicts (0.75)
• A rearticulated rationality functions as ammunition within power’s mechanics #expands (0.74)
• Prejudiced rationalizations can be socially validated ideology rather than irrationality #complicates (0.72)