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Black-and-white dualism

January 06, 2023

"Dark and light" redirects here. For other uses, see Dark and Light.
"Darkness and light" and "Light and darkness" redirect here. For other uses, see Darkness and Light and Light and Darkness.

The contrast of white and black (light and darkness, day and night) has a long tradition of metaphorical usage, traceable to the Ancient Near East, and explicitly in the Pythagorean Table of Opposites. In Western culture as well as in Confucianism, the contrast symbolizes the moral dichotomy of good and evil.

Description

Day, light, and good are often linked together, in opposition to night, darkness, and evil. These contrasting metaphors may go back as far as human history, and appear in many cultures, including both the ancient Chinese and the ancient Persians. The philosophy of neoplatonism is strongly imbued with the metaphor of goodness as light.[1]

Examples

Religion and mythology

Dress

  • White often represents purity or innocence in Western culture,[2] particularly as white clothing or objects, can be stained easily. In most Western countries white is the color worn by brides at weddings. Angels are typically depicted as clothed in white robes.
    • In many Hollywood Westerns, bad cowboys wear black hats while the good ones wear white.
    • Melodrama villains are dressed in black and heroines in white dresses.
    • This can be reversed as a deliberate play on conventions, by having the evil character dress in white, as a symbol of their hypocrisy or arrogance. For example, Don Fanucci in The Godfather, Part II is an evil character, but wears an expensive all-white suit as a sign of his esteem, power and prestige. Sometimes protagonists can wear black too, as in Return of the Jedi, wherein Luke Skywalker wears black during the final battle. This may symbolize the danger of Luke turning to the dark side, but once he has prevailed (in the scene where he removes Darth Vader's helmet), his jacket has opened up to reveal that it has a lighter color in the inside, as if to indicate that Luke "on the inside" was always good. Darth Vader himself, while still in the grip of the dark side, dresses all in black and may be regarded as a science-fiction version of a black knight. The chief antagonist of the Star Wars franchise, the evil Emperor Palpatine, wears a black cloak.
    • In computer security, a black hat is an attacker with evil intentions, while a white hat bears no such ill will (this is derived from the Western movie convention).

Magic

In popular culture

Other examples

  • The Dark Ages vs. the Age of Enlightenment.
  • "Black and white thinking" is the false dichotomy of assuming anything not good is evil and vice versa.
  • Freemasonry has a black-and-white checkerboard as a central symbol within the lodge and all rituals occur on or around this checkerboard. Also known as a Mosaic Pavement, it represents the floor of King Solomon's Temple and according to Shakespeare, represents man's natural duality.
  • In software policy, lists of items either allowed or disallowed are sometimes referred to as 'whitelists' and 'blacklists' respectively. This practice is sometimes criticised for invoking the ethnographic meanings of these words, and 'allowlists' and 'denylists' are used instead.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Rudolf Arnheim. (1974). Art and visual perception. Univ of California Press. "The Symbolism of Light" (pp. 324-5)
  2. ^ The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge. Encyclopedia Americana Corp. 1918. p. 329.
  3. ^ Bailey, Alice A. A Treatise on White Magic New York: 1934 Lucis Publishing Co.

January 06, 2023
black, white, dualism, dark, light, redirects, here, other, uses, dark, light, darkness, light, light, darkness, redirect, here, other, uses, darkness, light, light, darkness, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk. Dark and light redirects here For other uses see Dark and Light Darkness and light and Light and darkness redirect here For other uses see Darkness and Light and Light and Darkness This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article includes a list of general references but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations January 2010 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article is in list format but may read better as prose You can help by converting this article if appropriate Editing help is available February 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message The contrast of white and black light and darkness day and night has a long tradition of metaphorical usage traceable to the Ancient Near East and explicitly in the Pythagorean Table of Opposites In Western culture as well as in Confucianism the contrast symbolizes the moral dichotomy of good and evil The Last Judgement by Viktor Vasnetsov Contents 1 Description 2 Examples 2 1 Religion and mythology 2 2 Dress 2 3 Magic 2 4 In popular culture 2 5 Other examples 3 See also 4 ReferencesDescription EditDay light and good are often linked together in opposition to night darkness and evil These contrasting metaphors may go back as far as human history and appear in many cultures including both the ancient Chinese and the ancient Persians The philosophy of neoplatonism is strongly imbued with the metaphor of goodness as light 1 Examples EditReligion and mythology Edit The Genesis creation narrative has God separate light from darkness on the First Day The Bible associates light with God truth and virtue darkness is associated with sin and the Devil Painters such as Rembrandt portrayed divine light illuminating an otherwise dark world 1 War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness part of the Dead Sea Scrolls The underworld Hades Tartarus was imagined as a chthonic place of darkness contrasting with the celestial realm of the gods Christian notions of heaven and hell inherit this conception as do the dark angels vs the unfallen angels often with aureola halos in Christian mythology Day and night are personified as deities in various mythologies e g Norse Dagr and Nott Greek Hemera and Nyx et cetera Yin yang Illiyin is the hihgest place and the resting place for the good souls among the highest angels opposed to Sijjin the farest underworld and resting place for the evil souls among the fallen angel Islamic literature Dress Edit White often represents purity or innocence in Western culture 2 particularly as white clothing or objects can be stained easily In most Western countries white is the color worn by brides at weddings Angels are typically depicted as clothed in white robes In many Hollywood Westerns bad cowboys wear black hats while the good ones wear white Melodrama villains are dressed in black and heroines in white dresses This can be reversed as a deliberate play on conventions by having the evil character dress in white as a symbol of their hypocrisy or arrogance For example Don Fanucci in The Godfather Part II is an evil character but wears an expensive all white suit as a sign of his esteem power and prestige Sometimes protagonists can wear black too as in Return of the Jedi wherein Luke Skywalker wears black during the final battle This may symbolize the danger of Luke turning to the dark side but once he has prevailed in the scene where he removes Darth Vader s helmet his jacket has opened up to reveal that it has a lighter color in the inside as if to indicate that Luke on the inside was always good Darth Vader himself while still in the grip of the dark side dresses all in black and may be regarded as a science fiction version of a black knight The chief antagonist of the Star Wars franchise the evil Emperor Palpatine wears a black cloak In computer security a black hat is an attacker with evil intentions while a white hat bears no such ill will this is derived from the Western movie convention Magic Edit Healing or good paranormal magic is called White magic Black magic is a destructive or evil form of magic A Treatise on White Magic is a book by Alice Bailey a Theosophist 3 White witch Evil witches are stereotypically dressed in black and good fairies in white In popular culture Edit The topos of light and darkness is also reflected in numerous titles in popular culture such as Heart of Darkness 1899 Light in My Darkness 1927 Darkness and the Light 1942 Creatures of Light and Darkness 1969 From Darkness to Light 1973 Darkness and Light 1989 The Lord of the Light and of the Darkness 1993 the Star Trek Deep Space 9 episode The Darkness and the Light 1997 the Babylon 5 episode Between the Darkness and the Light 1997 and Out of the Darkness Into the Light 1998 In works of fantasy fiction the main antagonist is often called a Dark Lord for example Sauron in The Lord of the Rings The space opera franchise Star Wars also depicts Light and Dark aspects in the form of the fictional energy field called The Force where there are two sides light side and dark side wherein the protagonists the Jedi practice and propagate the use of the former and the antagonists the Sith use the latter George Orwell makes a bitterly ironic use of the light and darkness topos in his Nineteen Eighty Four In the early part of the book the protagonist gets a promise that We will meet in the place where there is no darkness which he interprets as referring to a place where the oppressive totalitarian state does not rule But the man who made the promise was in fact an agent of the Thought Police and they eventually meet as prisoner and interrogator where there is indeed no darkness in detention cells where the light remains on permanently day and night as an additional means of torturing detainees The Dark Crystal explains the two split halves of a balanced whole reflecting the impossibility of acknowledging any metaphorical divine balance without the combination of both the light the Mystics and the dark the Skesis Other examples Edit The Dark Ages vs the Age of Enlightenment Black and white thinking is the false dichotomy of assuming anything not good is evil and vice versa Freemasonry has a black and white checkerboard as a central symbol within the lodge and all rituals occur on or around this checkerboard Also known as a Mosaic Pavement it represents the floor of King Solomon s Temple and according to Shakespeare represents man s natural duality In software policy lists of items either allowed or disallowed are sometimes referred to as whitelists and blacklists respectively This practice is sometimes criticised for invoking the ethnographic meanings of these words and allowlists and denylists are used instead See also EditBlack and white thinking Dialectics of Nature Fantasy tropes and conventions Table of OppositesReferences Edit a b Rudolf Arnheim 1974 Art and visual perception Univ of California Press The Symbolism of Light pp 324 5 The Encyclopedia Americana A Library of Universal Knowledge Encyclopedia Americana Corp 1918 p 329 Bailey Alice A A Treatise on White Magic New York 1934 Lucis Publishing Co Armin Lange Eric M Meyers eds Light Against Darkness Dualism in Ancient Mediterranean Religion and the Contemporary World Vandenhoeck amp Ruprecht 2011 Fontaine Petrus Franciscus Maria The Light and the Dark A Cultural History of Dualism 21 volumes 1986 https freemasoninformation com 2015 06 mosaic pavement or the checkered flooring Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Black and white dualism amp oldid 1127235240, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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