The Power of Three: Ternary Logic, Triolectics, and Three Sided Football
4 days ago
- #binary-thinking
- #philosophy
- #ternary-logic
- Binary thinking limits human perception to extremes, ignoring the spectrum between opposites.
- Gregory Bateson warns that Cartesian dualism (mind vs. matter) leads to harmful divisions like God vs. man, elite vs. people, and man vs. environment.
- Binary thinking creates false dilemmas, fundamentalist antagonisms, and stifles imagination of new possibilities.
- Charles Sanders Peirce introduced ternary logic (induction, deduction, abduction) to move beyond binary true/false propositions.
- Peirce's triadic logic influenced semiotics, defining signs as composed of sign vehicle, object, and interpretant.
- Asger Jorn developed triolectics, a playful alternative to dialectical materialism, leading to Three-Sided Football (TSF).
- Three-Sided Football encourages defensive strategies and alliances, breaking the binary opposition of traditional sports.
- Ternary logic and triolectics offer ways to escape political and ideological binaries, fostering creative problem-solving.
- Independent scholarship, like Peirce's, remains valuable as academia becomes increasingly constrained by commercial interests.