Dualism

By Linda Mihalic

  The doctrine of dualism has given rise to and enshrined the logical fallacy variously known as “either/or, false dilemma,” and “black-and-white thinking.” An “either/or” argument “cuts off the messy bits” by presenting only two conclusions, thus oversimplifing complex questions and leading to fatal errors in logic. Sophists use “either/or” statements to limit, to manipulate or polarize choices by eliminating all other options. Anyone who has ever played on a teeter-totter or seen a toddler try to walk can instantly understand the instability of two (legs). On the Via Christa, we call this “closing the question.”
  Contrast this unstable two with one: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD thy God is one.”–Deuteronomy 6:4, and the perfectly stable three: “There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.”–1 John 5:7-8. 1 The number one divides every number, but multiplies none; one can be added to or subtracted from another number, creating either a superfluity or deficiency in the other.
  A duality, a two, is binary (consisting of two parts or components; twofold; of or relating to a system of numeration having 2 as its base). Early in the 21st Century the notion of non-binary human sexuality was popularized by “social engineers” who “identified” dozens of other forms of sexuality. Before this, what really happened was “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:…So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”-Genesis 1:26,27. These two verses speak of the One God in Whom exists a plurality identified as “we” and “us.” The designations “male” and “female” admit only a binary choice; any deviation from male (XY) or female (XX) is due to a chromosomal or hormonal abnormality; metaphysically, we would say that the deviance from the norm resulted from the soul's disobediance to instructions or lack of due diligence (carelessness) in building its body.
  The unifying and stabilizing third factor hides in plain sight: If you identify with being a body only, you remain a matter-bound and unstable dyad. If you identify as being a soul who wears a body, you know the truth that makes you free: You the soul look unto Christ as the third unifier, "Jesus the author and finisher of our faith," our eldest brother whose nature binds us to our Source, which is God. From here on we invite you to review the world's ideas on the concept of dualism:

  Dualism: c. 1755, in philosophy, is “a way of thinking that explains phenomena by the assumption of two independent and absolute elements,” from French dualisme (1754).–Online Etymology Dictionary.

  Dualism “considers reality to consist of two irreducible elements or modes; a doctrine that the universe is under the dominion of two opposing principles one of which is good and the other evil: a view of human beings as constituted of two irreducible elements (such as matter and spirit) e.g. mind-body dualism: the idea, via Plato and Descartes, Mill, etc., that the human body can be distinguished from the human mind.”–Oxford English Dictionary.

  “Two kinds of a thing in some domain is dualistic; contrasting views according to which there only one kind of a thing are monistic. The most famous example is mind-body dualism, contrasted with monism in the form either of idealism (only mind) or more often physicalism (only body or matter).”–Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy.

  The Jewish View: “As a personification of the permanent dualism of the choice between good and evil, the rabbinic notion of the two inclinations shifts this dualism from a metaphysical to a more psychological level (i.e., two tendencies in man rather than two cosmic principles). According to the rabbis, man was created with two opposing inclinations or tendencies, one impelling him toward the good and the other toward evil.”–Encyclopaedia Judaica.

  The Catholic View: “the religious or theological system which would explain the universe as the outcome of two eternally opposed and coexisting principles, conceived as good and evil, light and darkness, or some other form of conflicting powers.”–The Catholic Encyclopedia.

In refutation of the materialistic Catholic view, we recommend F. H. Bradley’s Appearance and Reality.

  Dualism, in philosophy, is defined as “the use of two irreducible, heterogeneous principles (sometimes in conflict, sometimes complementary) to analyze the knowing process (epistemological dualism) or to explain all of reality or some broad aspect of it (metaphysical dualism). Examples of epistemological dualism are being and thought, subject and object, and sense datum and thing; examples of metaphysical dualism are God and the world, matter and spirit, body and mind, and good and evil. Dualism is distinguished from monism, which acknowledges only one principle, and from pluralism, which invokes more than two basic principles.”–Encyclopaedia Britannica.

  For a detailed historical recounting of religious dualism see Robinson and Weir, "Dualism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and .

Stefon and Bianchi, "Dualism". Encyclopedia Britannica.

1 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.–1 John 5:5-10

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