The drive for self-preservation is the founding maxim of all Western civilization.

Evidence

Spinoza’s “Conatus sese conservandi primum et unicum virtutis est fundamentum” contains the true maxim of all Western civilization, in which the religious and philosophical differences of the middle class are reconciled. — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 47

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the culture-industry thesis: self-preservation logic is the root the later chapter’s domination theme grows from. Also resonates with Milgrom’s rational self-interest models. — connects to: Western self-criticism as moral exception vindicates the civilization that produced it — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 1569
• DEFINE: Defines the conatus principle as the core premise of Enlightenment self-preservation logic.
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Western self-criticism as moral exception vindicates the civilization that produced it — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 1569