A division into two, mutually exclusive, opposites. The term is used in a number of different contexts in anthropology: (1) To describe the "great oppositions" that are said to underly Western / European / modern culture (body/mind, truth/falsehood, free/unfree etc.). (2) To designate analytical tools based on binary (as in semiotics and cybernetics) or dialectic (as in Marxian) oppositions. (3) To critique analytical tools of this kind, as based on the Western great oppositions. (4) In a general, rather vague way, to speak of any kind of opposition between more or less different and contradictory terms or meanings.