The Dialectic of Right and Wrong:

-Does it Matter if Things go Wrong?



Image of a dest tropical backyard sow

(On the Death of a Beloved Sow)

How Sad should we Be?


The Dialectics of Life:

(Opposites Looking for Equilibrium)

-Individual as Problem Solver       vs.     Individual as Passive Victim of Circumstance
-Individual as Individual                vs.     Individual as Part of a Collective
-Individual as Practical Person     vs.     Individual as Romantic Dreamer

                       A Life of Work         vs.     A Life of Pleasure


The Dialectics of Good and Bad:

1.  There is a "Good" way to do things and a "Bad" way to do things.

2.  Doing things well leads to success -and doing things badly leads to failure.

3.  Success tends to make people happy -while failure tends to make them sad.
     So there is an emotional as well as a practical aspect.

4.  On a practical level, "Failure" is a sign that things have not been done well

5. "Failure" is thus a chance to learn and do better next time


There is a fundamental dialectic between "Good" and "bad"

"Good" promotes life, equilibrium and (sustainable?) creative development
 -while "Bad" promotes death, imbalance and unsustainable decline

These are not irreconcilable oppositions
           -good can come out of bad -and bad can come out of good



If neither infinite growth -or infinite decline are sustainable -then life must be cyclic



The Interpretative Dialectic:

Our experience and interpretation of the world often determines how we define "good" and "bad"

   -what is "good" for one person might be "bad" for another.
   -what is "good" for us at one moment might be "bad" at another moment.

It is possibly through the eternal struggle between "good" and "bad" that we give meaning to our lives.
So, our lives give meaning to our definitions -and our definitions give meaning to our lives


The Work Ethic (or Not?):

It is common to feel encouraged by success and discouraged by failure
          -but perhaps we should see both sides of the coin as being equally valuable
          -although one perhaps remains more enjoyable than the other......

Perhaps we should see "work" less in practical terms and more in philosophical terms

-Not as something which has to be done -but as a medium for giving meaning to our lives


Some related themes?
Health, Food and Energy Equilibria
The Aesthetics of Choice
Energy, Economy and Ecology
Vectors and Forces (The Philosophy of Water)
Mental Maps and Vectored Forces




Note: Equilibrium might be a better integrating concept than Harmony.

          The concept of Harmony seems to suggest a static fitting together of elements
              -which my be out of balance

           Equilibrium implies (individual or collective) balance -which might be inharmonious......

The concept of Unity

Unity, not as a Single, Fixed, Relationship -but Unity as a Dynamic, Interactive, Principle (with many parts)





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Think Tank
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Trevor Batten
<trevor at tebatt dot net>
Baclayon 2019
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