If only I had more knuckles on each hand.

I have never been huge on reductive philosophies, being a guy who comfortably dwells in the grey area almost all of the time. However, I am open minded. And, as such, I like to think that I am willing to admit it when I come across a good idea. I don't go in for good vs bad, black vs white, etc but, if I had to pick one dichotomy to reduce my existence to, it came up today:

Nature vs Culture.

This is of course contingent on how you define both Nature and Culture. But, so long as each of us defines them consistently, and truthfully, to ourselves, the reduction will still work for each of us. Allow, for the moment, that we are each capably of this, and give it some thought.

Obviously, this ties in with a whole metric assload of outstanding issues (nature vs nurture, god vs science, greenpeace vs BP, etc) but I think I would argue that this very open ended status is what makes Nature vs Culture the most compelling reduction I have stumbled on for a while. It acknowledges the broad complexity of both sides of the equation and does little to reduce either one any further than needed. For a guy who thinks philosophy is the major for people who can't turn off their cerebral shitstorm enough to slack off and get a normal, useless, expensive liberal arts degree, I am pretty stoked on spending the next few days looking at the world through this new lense and trying it out.

I've spent the day applying it to my previously mentioned foody situation, as suggested in The Omnivore's Dilemma; while it does not offer any weight to either side, it is the perfect way to break down the constituent issues of the larger argument. At first pass, it fit my views of religion too, albeit with the caveat that I buy into "science". Getting confused? Exactly. The perfect thing about Nature vs. Culture is that imposing this prism DOES NOT impose an implied judgment on either side of the issue, but rather using its broad reduction only to contextualize the factors.

Think on it, when you are done not worrying about anything at all. Then get it tattooed.

-OSB