A nebular opposition (also a binary system) is a pair of related terms or concepts that have the opposite meaning. This is a system through which language and thinking, two theoretical opposites, are strictly defined and contrasted with each other. This is the contrast between two mutually exclusive terms, such as turning on and off, up and down, left and right. The meaning of the phrase "binary opposition" denotes an important concept of structuralism, which proclaims the differences fundamental to the whole language and thinking. In structuralism, she is seen as the fundamental organizer of human philosophy, culture and language.
Origin
Binary opposition arose in the theory of structuralism Saussure. According to Ferdinand de Saussure, the opposition is the means by which units of language matter. Each unit is defined by contact with another term, as in binary code. This is not a controversial attitude, but a structural, complementary one. Saussure demonstrated that the essence of a sign comes from its context (syntagmatic dimension) and the group (paradigm) to which it belongs. An example of this is that one cannot comprehend "good" if we do not understand "evil."
Roles
As a rule, one of the two opposites takes on the role of dominating the other. The categorization of binary oppositions is “often valuable and ethnocentric” with an illusory order and superficial meaning. In addition, Peter Fourier found that oppositions have a deeper or second level of binaries that help reinforce meaning. For example, the concepts of a hero and a villain include secondary binaries: good / bad, beautiful / ugly, liked / disliked, etc.
Examples
A classic example of binary opposition is the presence-absence dichotomy. In most Western thought, including structuralism, the distinction between presence and absence, seen as polar opposites, is a fundamental element of thinking in many cultures. In addition, according to post-structuralist criticism, presence is dominant in Western thought over absence, because absence is traditionally seen as what you get when you remove presence. If absence were dominant, presence could most naturally be seen as what you get when you remove the absence.
Examples
According to Nasser Maleki, there is another example of this phenomenon, when people value one part of the binary opposition over another. We, living in a certain culture, think and act similarly in situations where we want to single out one of the concepts in the opposition or in search of truth or center. For example, we give the advantage of life, not death. This suggests that the cultural environment of which the reader is a part may influence the interpretation of a work of literature. Only one concept from the binary opposition is ready to be privileged, and the other is usually postponed as having priority. This is the belief that there is an ultimate reality or center of truth. It can serve as the basis for all our thoughts and actions. This may mean that readers may unknowingly accept one concept of binary opposition. Derrida traces this reaction as a cultural phenomenon.
Derrida
According to Jacques Derrida, meaning in the West is defined in terms of binary oppositions, a “violent hierarchy”, where “one of the two terms governs the other.” Inside the opposition in the United States, an African American is defined as a depreciated other.
An example of binary opposition is the man-woman dichotomy. The post-structuralist point of view is that, in accordance with traditional Western thought, a man can be regarded as dominant over a woman, because a man is the presence of the phallus, and the vagina is the absence or loss. John Searle suggested that the concept of binary oppositions, as taught and practiced by postmodernists and poststructuralists, is false and not rigorous.
In politics
Political (rather than analytical or conceptual) criticism of binary oppositions is an important part of third-wave feminism, postcolonialism, postanarchism, and the theory of the critical race. It is argued that the perceived binary dichotomy between a man / woman, civilized / uncivilized, white / black immortalized and legitimized Western power structures in favor of "civilized white people." Over the past fifteen years, it has become common for many social and historical analyzes to consider gender variables, classes of sexuality, race, and ethnicity. Within each of these categories there is usually an unequal opposite.
Post-structural criticism of binary oppositions is not just a change in the opposition, but its deconstruction, which is described as apolitical, that is, in fact, not the preference of one opposite. Deconstruction is an “event” or “moment” when it is believed that any opposition contradicts itself and undermines its own power.
Deconstruction implies that all binary oppositions must be analyzed and criticized in all manifestations; the function of both logical and axiological oppositions must be studied in all discourses that give meaning and values. But deconstruction reveals not only how the opposition works and how values ​​and values ​​are created in a nihilistic or cynical position, "thereby preventing any means of effective local intervention." To be effective, deconstruction creates new concepts or concepts not in order to synthesize terms in opposition, but to note their difference, insolubility and perpetual interaction.
Logo-centrism
Logo-centrism is an idea related to binary opposition as the structural basis of a myth, which implies that certain audiences will prefer one part to another. This favoritism depends on the cultural background of the readers. Strong patriarchal themes in Women and the Pot, an Amharic folk tale, could be one example of logocentrism. This tells the story of two women who are upset because of their diminished role in society and therefore turn to their king for help. He effectively conveys the message that one cannot rely on the fact that women play a more important role in society, which becomes the moral of a fairy tale.
Prasad explains this idea: “The logocentric value is manifested in“ Eternal knowledge ”, the naturalness of male superiority, which is transmitted through a fairy tale. Hidden a priori binary opposition "Man over woman." Prasad says that the cultural heritage of the audience affects their unconscious preference for one part of this concept. “By studying selected Ethiopian folk tales, the article reveals the presence of logo-centrism and a priori binary opposition in the modern mass consciousness, working in Ethiopian folk tales. These two elements are trying to support and confirm the subordinate position of women in society. ”
In literature
Binary opposition in language and speech is as deeply rooted in literature as language, and paired opposites rely on a connection with related words within a paradigmatic chain. If one of the paired opposites is removed, the exact value of the other will be changed. In addition, the opposition was investigated in children's literature. It was found that the authors reinforce Western images and philosophies of feminism through a hierarchy. Western authors created a representation of non-Western countries based on colonial discourse, using binary oppositions in humanitarian research to classify people's behavior in one or another term, and not both. Consequently, the non-Western woman was the “opposite” or “other” woman.
In lexical semantics, opposites are words that lie in incompatible binary opposites (binary models) in nature, like opposite pairs: big-small, long-short and anterior-follow. The concept of incompatibility here refers to the fact that one word in the opposite pair means that it is not a member of another pair. For example, something long entails the fact that it is not short. This is called a binary relation because there are two terms in the set of opposites. The relationship between opposites is known as opposition. A member of a pair of opposites, as a rule, can be determined by the question: what is the opposite of X?
Antonyms
The term antonym (and its associated antonymy) is usually understood to be synonymous with the opposite, but the antonym also has other, more limited meanings. Graded (or graded) antonyms are pairs of words whose meanings are opposite. They lie in a continuous spectrum (hot, cold). Additional antonyms are pairs of words whose meanings are opposite, but do not lie in the continuous spectrum. Relational antonyms are pairs of words where the opposite makes sense only in the context of the relationship between two meanings (teacher, student). These more limited meanings may not apply in all scientific contexts.
Antonym is a pair of words with opposite meanings. Each word in a pair is the opposite of the other. There are three categories of antonyms, determined by the nature of the relationship between opposing meanings. When two words have definitions that lie in a continuous spectrum of meanings, they are gradient antonyms. When meanings do not lie in a continuous spectrum and words have no other lexical relations, they are additional antonyms. If two meanings are opposite only in the context of their relationship, they are relational antonyms.