I need to write an answer to this because I don't want wrong assumptions about me to keep stuck on me.
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Originally Posted by genetic
What's the purpose in "dualism" of "black-white", "male-female", etc., except to indicate as you
did that it means "2 little boxes" in which one is superior and the other must be inferior. Don't you realize that you are projecting your own concepts as a reality? Whatever it suggests, your meaning attached to it is from you, not from the hearts of people who don't think in such a way.
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Please STOP repeating false assumptions about me. I don't project my own concepts as reality here.
1. I did not say that this dualism is reality, but that it is a way things tend to be perceived in the Western culture. Note the difference.
2. This concept is not from me, nor did the act of describing the concept stem from me. Now I finally remember the exact word, it was dichotomy not dualism and it is NOT my private concept. In university, it is tought that dichotomy is a concept which is often found in Western civilization. It is not tought that it is reality. Just a concept how things are perceived. Also, this concept gets deconstructed sometimes. You might look up my postings again, I never said it was reality! I just described the concept, and it was in this context that I wrote the thing you first found offensive for taking it as my personal conviction (which it isn't).
So stop throwing mud at me, attacking me for things I did not say, and stop going on and on pretending I would defend this dichotomy concept as being reality. I DON'T DO THIS.
It is not my personal invention, look up the Wikipedia "Dichotomy" entry for a start (I cannot post the direkt link because I am a new member):
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Perceived Dichotomies are common in Western thought. C. P. Snow believes that Western society has become an argument culture (The Two Cultures). In The Argument Culture (1998), Deborah Tannen suggests that the dialogue of Western culture is characterized by a warlike atmosphere in which the winning side has truth (like a trophy). In such a dialogue, the middle alternatives are virtually ignored.
In sociology and semiotics, dichotomies (also sometimes called 'binaries' and/or 'binarisms') are the subject of attention because they may form the basis to divisions and inequality. For example, the Domestic-public dichotomy divides men's and women's roles in a society; the East-West dichotomy contrasts the Orient and the Occident. Some social scientists attempt to deconstruct dichotomies in order to address the divisions and inequalities they create: for instance Judith Butler's deconstruction of the gender-dichotomy and Val Plumwood's deconstruction of the human-environment dichotomy.
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So you see, other people before me have described this phenomenon. I hope you don't look down on them as being "narrowminded" for having put to paper that they described that in Western culture, dichotomy can often be found as a concept (again: not reality). Describing a mentality does not automatically mean you share it and take it for granted.
Quote:
Originally Posted by genetic
I might as well suggest such a thought as in "righthanded or lefthanded" as a dualism. Ironically, such a ludicrous prejudice did exist in earlier civilizations in which one or the other hand was supposed to indicate a healthy and the other a sick individual. One would hope that we have evolved a good bit since that time.
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Until the 70ies, left-handed kids at school in Germany have been forced to use their right hand for writing. It is still considered impolite to give someone your left hand for shaking hands, and children in Germany are taught: "Give him your beautiful hand" which means the right hand. In German, you have "two left feet" if you don't have a good coordination and move awkwardly. In language, the left-right thing is still alive (you can be right or wrong, but not left or wrong). Women's rights took a long time in the 20th century until it bekame more or less okay etc. So it's not "earlier civilizations" you are talking about, but this dichotomy is a phenomenon which is still not wiped out from the planet and the people's minds.
The condescending way you treat me here for pointing to the existence of a certain mentality, NOT REALITY!!! which moreover has been described by many people before me and your refusal to look up what I ACTUALLY wrote and your ongoing way of belittling me for things I DID NOT SAY is really annoying me. Moreover, the ironic thing is I share your opinion about artists etc. and would subscribe to your postings, but you go on pretending that I have no appreciation for art.
I cannot understand why there is so much negativity in a forum which should be for help and support.