The Attraction of Opposites

The Attraction of Opposites considers a puzzling phenomenon: Why do societies all over the world organize their social thought and institutions in patterns of opposites? The essays collected in this volume examine contemporary societies throughout the world that organize their social theories or institutions in binary form. Through analysis of these rich materials, the distinguished contributors explore the enduring human attraction to dualism. They consider whether this is due to the natural "twoness" of things and, if not, why polarity should play such a prominent role in both ancient cosmologies and modern philosophies, in early empires and in modern two-party systems.

This study of dual organization tells us something important about human beings, illuminating a mode of thought and social organization that has represented an attractive option throughout human history.

Praise / Awards

• ". . . this book has made a great leap forward in the debate on democratic defenses. Somehow however, the developments after 9/112 have raised new questions that this book hardly touches on. Whether or not the defense of democracy would lead us to Carl Schmitt's authoritarian solution, most notably. If that happens hate discourse and terrorism would have achieved their goal of transforming liberal democracies into very illiberal or even fascist societies."
  --- Alberto Spektorowski, Tel Aviv University, e-Extreme, February 18, 2003
  
• ". . . by focusing on the phenomenon of dualism in social arrangements and social thought, the volume raises important issues concerning the interrelationship between thought and experience, cosmology and society, and it provides a way for treating these issues that is neither unduly formalistic nor simply empirical. Those interested in African cosmologies would do well to consider it both for its ideas and for its evidence."
  --- Journal of Rel. Afr.