Non-Aristotelian Logic - Use in Science Fiction

Use in Science Fiction

The concept of non-Aristotelian logic was used by A. E. van Vogt as the central theme in his The World of Null-A novels, based on his interest in general semantics. The stories were tinged by van Vogt's reaction to real-life news reports of police state conditions in the totalitarian regimes after World War II.

Van Vogt generally shortened non-Aristotelian logic to null-A in his description of logic systems incorporating three or more values, to represent relatively 'subjective' conclusions from inductive logic, rather than relying strictly on the binary, deductive reasoning. The null-A concept as depicted by van Vogt is complementary to Aristotle's system of two-valued, true/false logic, i.e., "A is either B, or it is not B".

Van Vogt highlights the aspect of general semantics in his science fiction science fiction (SF) stories, that portrays the general semantics as a speech evaluation tool. It occurs where heroic characters use general semantics to struggle against the rousing orations used as an incremental tactic by the minions of authoritarian entities. Alfred Korzybski's development and description the general semantics was not as a 'logic', but as a non-Aristotelian system of evaluation. Van Vogt depicted the general semantics as a method of evaluation used to analyze the reasoning of others. Protagonists in van Vogt's science fiction novels typically use a dream-like, null-A reasoning in to outwit villains who rely upon decision-tree, or algorithmic, reasoning, akin to Aristotelian logic.

Van Vogt was not the only Golden Age writer of SF influenced by Alfred Korzybski.

“The tangled relation of general semantics to science fiction began within seven years of the publication of Science and Sanity. John W. Campbell, Jr., the influential editor of Astounding Science Fiction magazine, who regarded general semantics as a prototype 'futurescience,' encouraged several of his most popular writers to familiarize themselves with the general semantics literature. Campbell hoped they would incorporate some general semantics methodology into their stories. Several writers did so …”

A major writer of the Golden Age Robert Heinlein explicitly incorporated general semantics formulations and themes. He stated in 1941, regarding Korzybski,

“You may not like him personally, but he's at least as great a man as Einstein - at least - because his field is broader. The same kind of work that Einstein did, the same kind of work, using the same methods; but in a much broader field, much more close to human relationships.”

An example of such incorporation by Heinlein is given by Alexei and Cory Panshin from the first few paragraphs of Heinlein’s short novel ‘If This Goes On—’ (1940). The Panshins also illustrate how another major writer of the Golden Age Isaac Asimov was influenced by general semantics choosing as an example the Foundation story “The Big and the Little”, stating:

“One of the particular strengths of this story was that it presented in dramatic form, a full year before the publication of van Vogt’s The World of Null-A, some of the key ideas associated with Alfred Korzybski.”

Roger Luckhurst in his volume Science Fiction in the ‘Cultural History of Literature' series shows that general semantics continued to exert influence on SF beyond the Golden Age, stating that Frank Herbert's:

“Dune also evidences the continuing influence on American SF of Alfred Korzybski’s engineering of subjectivity. Herbert, who was ghostwriting a newspaper column on the general semantics whilst completing Dune, details the ‘Bene Gesserit’ mental training method which includes hyper-acute sensitivity, powers of projecting mental will onto others, and even eugenic control of reproduction – ideas not far away from the claims of L Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics. This places Dune, in direct lineal descent from Campbellian SF.”