. . . How these principles maybe brought into line with the causes we have mentioned is not clearly explained to them [quoted Guthrie 1962: 1, 245]."
Goody, J. (1968) Literacy in Traditional Societies, Cambridge: CUP. pp.10-11.
Taking each of these in-turn as may relate to Hodges' model (I may update/edit these):
limit unlimited
As a template the model invites both a limit (boundaries) and some-thing unlimited.
odd even
There is a symmetry - evenness to the model, but the invitation noted above is also a prospect for odd-ness. This may extend to the frustration experienced when a phenomena, account (patient's narrative . . .) defies explanation and classification.
one plurality
This polarity is key in Hodges' model. 'One' refers to the person, patient, carer, any - individual who the model is applied to. In respect of plurality this can include the dyad of patient - nurse, couple, family, team, community, national or global population (and Biosphere).
right left
The horizontal axis is not the last word in Hodges' model, as intra-domain we also find right and left. Of course, the vertical axis (indeed, the whole model if required?) can also be repeated in a domain.
male female
You quickly recognise the potential for disagreement* which is fundamental in dichotomous situations, a point further reinforced below.
at rest moving
The model is 'at rest' as a snap-shot, but as a frame it can represent the change over time and so has its own dynamic potential.
straight crooked
The axes as continua are 'straight' but this distinction (as noted above) has distinct psycho-socio-political connotations. In the model, line-of-sight is acknowledged, while 'crooked' might suggest what is uncertain, and unseen?
light darkness & good bad
Again, these two oppositions seem 'loaded': especially socially - politically.
Tread carefully. If you have light, that's good, but if lost: bad.
square oblong
Viewed as containers, or sets the model's domains can be represented as several shapes, as long as the axes are retained as part of the structure. The adopted rectilinear form is an affordance of the (underlying) HTML, and the traditional (paper-based) tabular format. From the domains being of equal area, the point where the axes intersect could be shifted, such that a single domain is enlarged (prioritised?), at the expense of another.
*Incredible harmony too!
Then prior to an anticipated move, and sorting through books and papers:
“The discovery that universal computation is poised between order and chaos in dynamical systems was important in itself, with its analogies to phase transitions in the physical world. It would be interesting enough if adaptive complex systems inescapably were located at the edge of chaos, the place of maximum capacity for information computation. The world could then be seen to be exploiting the creative dynamics of complex systems, but with no choice in the matter. But what if such systems actually got themselves to the edge of chaos, moved in parameter space to the place of maximum information processing?” p.54.
Lewin, R. (1993) Complexity: Life on the edge of chaos. London: Phoenix.
The conclusion?
Perhaps, the ubiquity of polarity, opposition and dichotomy is that they anticipate and presage an increase in information processing (for good or ill: there we go again!).
This is also a ( the ) function of Hodges' model.
Previously:
Opposition . . . See also - Polarity , Dichotomy , Literacy . . .
orcid.org/0000-0002-0192-8965
