Binaries in Battle: Representations of Division and Conflict

Abstract

Defining things through binary opposition - male/female, familiar/foreign, life/death - forms the base of human thinking. Adding moral assessment to logic, we often represent binaries even as divisions into good and evil. Exclusions based on the division of Us vs. Them make their presence felt during any conflict, and become crucial in times of war. However, binary thinking is inherent also in peaceful, everyday conversation, when politics, social issues, ethnicities and religious identities