Foundation Spine
The foundational chain: existence, distinction, information primacy, substrate, self-grounding, and axiomatic generation.
A1.1 Existence
Something exists rather than nothing. Denial is self-refuting because denial itself presupposes a real act.
A1.2 Distinction
If anything exists, it must be distinguishable from what it is not. Existence without distinction collapses into undifferentiated nullity.
A1.3 Information Primacy
Distinguishability is informational. Information is treated as primitive because every rival primitive borrows distinction-language to describe itself.
A2.1 Substrate Requirement
Information cannot float as a free abstraction. It requires a real substrate in which distinctions are borne.
A2.2 Self-Grounding
The substrate must not regress infinitely. The framework marks self-grounding as an explicit commitment rather than a secretly smuggled derivation.
Logos Field → 189 Axioms
The self-grounding substrate is formalized as the Logos Field, then unfolded into the axiomatic library that generates the rest of the proof surface.
Alternative primitive eliminations
Matter primitive: dead-ends because matter is only specified by properties, and properties are informational distinctions.
Math primitive: dead-ends because abstract relations describe but do not instantiate a causal substrate.
Consciousness primitive: dead-ends because consciousness itself requires an account of distinction, state, and substrate.
Emergent information: dead-ends because emergence presupposes a more basic structure to emerge from.