Uploaded August 2020 | Updated September 2026, 8 minutes ago
Incrementality is seeing things as a matter of degree rather than as an on/off switch. It is an important aspect of Middle Way practice, because it is one of the ways we can challenge absolute assumptions on either side. Absolute assumptions are framed as discontinuous alternatives between one thing and another, seen as necessarily the only way we can understand the situation. However, in human practical experience there is always another way of framing these absolute binary choices, which are imposed by our conceptual assumptions. We do not have to depose conceptual assumptions themselves (or the logic we use to relate them to each other) to do this, but merely use them more carefully, thinking carefully about the meaning of what we are talking about in experience rather than in terms of the concepts traditionally imposed on it.
Some of the most damaging and immediate examples of the negative impact of binary distinctions can be seen in arguments about race, nationality, or any other human group assumed to have a fixed boundary. Not only these, but even some of the most seemingly intractable binary assumptions that have become entrenched into our language and thinking can be reframed. God or his absence is one widespread example of this. Freewill and determinism, and mind and body are others.
This recording is from a Zoom session of the Middle Way Network, and consists of a short talk by Robert M. Ellis followed by questions from the audience. For more information on the Middle Way Network, please go to middlewaysociety.org/events/middle-way-network
Incrementality is seeing things as a matter of degree rather than as an on/off switch. It is an important aspect of Middle Way practice, because it is one of the ways we can challenge absolute assumptions on either side. Absolute assumptions are framed as discontinuous alternatives between one thing and another, seen as necessarily the only way we can understand the situation. However, in human practical experience there is always another way of framing these absolute binary choices, which are imposed by our conceptual assumptions. We do not have to depose conceptual assumptions themselves (or the logic we use to relate them to each other) to do this, but merely use them more carefully, thinking carefully about the meaning of what we are talking about in experience rather than in terms of the concepts traditionally imposed on it.
Some of the most damaging and immediate examples of the negative impact of binary distinctions can be seen in arguments about race, nationality, or any other human group assumed to have a fixed boundary. Not only these, but even some of the most seemingly intractable binary assumptions that have become entrenched into our language and thinking can be reframed. God or his absence is one widespread example of this. Freewill and determinism, and mind and body are others.
This recording is from a Zoom session of the Middle Way Network, and consists of a short talk by Robert M. Ellis followed by questions from the audience. For more information on the Middle Way Network, please go to middlewaysociety.org/events/middle-way-network
