Modern science has hundreds of tools for studying and classifying the world around us. There are techniques that are unique for each issue and comprehensive, describing any concept. Dichotomy is one such global approach.
What is a dichotomy?
Dichotomy is the principle of pair division, which consists in the fact that each member of the pair has no common features with the other. The term originated from two Greek words "in two" and "division" and is successfully applied in various fields of knowledge. In mathematics, linguistics and similar sciences is used to divide large units into small ones.
The principle works like this:
- The generalized concept of "schoolboy" is being taken.
- A group is singled out, united by the sign of "honors pupils".
- There remains a group in which this feature is not observed - "not excellent".
- Excellent students can be divided on the principle of "dedicates all the time to lessons" and "does not devote all the time lessons."
- "Not excellent" will be divided first into "good" and "not good".
And so on until the desired result is obtained. The system is very convenient for creating all sorts of classifications, but this is its main disadvantage. The second group becomes too blurry. So "not excellent", this is the troika and dvoechniki and horoshisty. To get to the last link, will have to go through a huge number of options.
Dichotomy in Psychology
Of all the subsections of psychology, the most active and fruitful application was found in the principle of dichotomy in socionics. This is a relatively young trend that arose on the basis of Jung's typology. The scientist described four basic qualities:
- thinking;
- feeling;
- sensation;
- intuition.
He introduced for each of them the value of an introvert, directed inside himself, the application. Or extrovert, directed outward. In this system, the use of a dichotomy differs from the classical one. For example, the fact that intuition is not thinking, only denotes this fact, without giving an estimated characteristic. In most cases, when division by the principle of "object" and "not an object" is made, the evaluation is present, albeit unintentionally.
Dichotomy in Philosophy
As in socionics, a dichotomy in philosophy is a way of dividing a general concept into contradictory definitions. But if in the psychological sciences dichotomous thinking is used for description and both versions are equivalent, then in philosophy by division into two parts pairs of antagonists are identified, from which it is necessary to choose a more significant variant. In the twentieth century, this approach to philosophical reasoning has been severely criticized. Some thinkers pointed out that the dichotomy of thinking and the opposition of the concepts "subject" and "object" leads to an excessive categorization of thinking.
What is the dichotomy of good and evil?
One of the known pairs in which a dichotomy in its pure form is manifested is "good" and "evil." The main questions that arise when considering this pair:
- What is good / evil.
- Relativity of good and evil.
- Can there be one without the other.
Using a dichotomous division and presenting good as "not evil" or vice versa, the thinkers thereby declared that one without the other is impossible. This became an excuse for moral relativism, that is, the position according to which, if the accomplishment of evil is inevitable, let it serve the benefit of a certain group. Such a principle was followed, committed bloody revolutions and unleashing brutal wars.
In Asia, from the solution of the dichotomy of good and evil, two philosophers immediately departed. Prince Siddartha Gautama (later Buddha) and the Chinese Lao Tzu. In Buddhism, the idea of the world's choice for a good and bad and neutral attitude to everything that happens is paramount. Full perception of this attitude leads to enlightenment and exit from the wheel of samsara .
Lao Tzu created a more rationalistic approach. He believed that a conscious desire to create as many good things as possible ultimately lead to the multiplication of evil, since without the concept his antagonist will also not appear. The Thinker urged not to rush to extremes and be guided in deeds solely by reason. The easiest attitude towards contrasting good and evil is best characterized by the sign of yin-yang (the apparent dichotomy of the soul in which the elements actually penetrate each other).
The dichotomy of life and death
Another pair of antagonists, with which mankind has long been familiar, is life and death. Here everything is vice versa. If the phrase "good is all that is not evil" is not always true, then it is difficult to argue with the statement "everything is alive that is not dead". So the main problem of this dichotomy is its inevitability. To alleviate the fear of the inevitability of the interruption of being, the dichotomy of life and death in philosophy and religion depreciates, loses its irreversibility. For example, for Christian philosophy, it looks like this: "for the body everything that is not life is death, the soul is immortal."
Dichotomy and Dualism
Dualism is just like a dichotomy, a method of dividing the whole into two parts. But in this case the elements turn out to be interconnected, not antagonistic, and not affecting each other. In this dualism is similar to the socionics of dichotomy, whose psychotypes are equivalent and equivalent. The classical dichotomy approximates ethical dualism - a system that clearly divides everything into sources of good and evil.
Dichotomy and trichotomy
Trichotomy - a method similar to the dichotomy method of dividing the whole into parts. The main difference between these systems is that triple division allows the interconnection of these elements among themselves. The most famous object of trichotomous division is the concept of God in Christianity, represented by three beings from the Holy Trinity.