Binary Oppositions refer to implicit, at-odds facets of the human condition that individuals or society struggles with. Here are a few binary oppositions:
- Life and Death
- Order and Chaos
- Individual Responsibility versus Social Responsibility
There is no “in-between” life and death — there is simply life or there is death, and existing in one of these two states is a constant, making them binary oppositions. Furthermore, every human that has ever lived has struggled with this core relationship between life and the notion that life ends.
Binary oppositions connect to mythology in that myths are fundamental means of wrestling with and reconciling binary oppositions. Case in point, many myths explore life versus death, and “rebirth” is a common mythological means of reconciling (mediating) life and death.
So, scholars argue that mythology has individual and societal utility in reconciling various kinds of binary oppositions, especially to new generations.
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