Opposites like good and evil are relative contrasts within an absolute whole
Evidence
Thus, “Good and evil are certainly mutually exclusive in a relative sense; but perhaps in an absolute, divine sense, existence is simply good, in a way that contains both the relative good and the relative evil. Certainly intellectual progress and intellectual stagnation are in irreconcilable opposition; but perhaps the overall intellectual process is one of absolute progress, in which the empirically progressive factor is something relative and that which we call stagnation is also an element of progress. And so perhaps life and death, though they seem to exclude one another logically and physically, may be only relative contrasts, encompassed by life in its absolute sense, which grounds and transcends the reciprocal confrontation and mutual determination of life and death.” — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 915
Categorization
- DEEPTHINKING: Simmel’s monistic resolution of dualisms — relative opposition is subsumed under an absolute totality that contains both poles. Dense and worth sitting with.
- XREF: connects to: Opposed behaviors like miserliness and prodigality share a single root impulse — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 462; Contradictory perceptions can both be true simultaneously — , A Year of World Stories, 4077; Blackness symbolizes Evil and Ugliness in white thought (+7 more)
Related
Broader Connections
- Any moral principle admitting its opposite becomes meaningless without unambiguous situations
#complicates(0.75) - Blackness symbolizes Evil and Ugliness in white thought
#exemplifies(0.60) - Contradictory perceptions can both be true simultaneously
#corroborates(0.55) — , A Year of World Stories, 4077