OPPOSITION: A Linguistic and Psychological Analysis
By C. K. Ogden
Indiana University Press / Bloomington & London

This important treatise on the concept of oppostion reviews its history from the Greek philosophers to the twentieth century and presents the author's original theory explaining the basic methods by which a field of referents may be dichotomized. The book includes a system of elementary notation for expressing opposition in linguistic analysis and some suggested applications of the theory to the dissemination of Basic English. A definitive work, long inaccessible, and of vital importance to philosophers, linguists, and lexicographers.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
	Introduction by I.A. Richards	7
I .	Introductory	17
II .	Historical	21
	aristotle's obession	21
	the metaphysical approach	24
	the evolutionary approach	33
III .	Analytical	53
	the scale and the cut	58
	the directiional basis	60
	attraction and repulsion	63
	analysis of examples	65
	schematic summary	90
	the verbal factor	92
IV .	Diagrammatic	94
	the importance of the body	94
V .	Notation	99
	Appendix	105
	Index	111

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I . Introductory

    The practical significance of an analysis of the nature of oppostion may not be obvous. Both for the lexicographer, however, and for all work on the problem of a Universal Language, it is fundamental, and the differentiation of the various kinds of opposition is essential for any progress in the art of Word Economy.

II . Historical

ARISTOTLE'S OBSESSION
    The subject of Opposition has a long and respectable history, for Aristotle himself was obsessed by the problem of opposition which appears in diffenent forms in all his works, though the special treatise which he devoted to it has not survived.
THE METAPHYSICAL APPROACH
    But throughout the intervening period, Opposition continued to play a leading part in logical and theological speculation.
THE EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH
    The first sociological treatment of Opposition was a direct outcome of the modern Evolutionary controversy.
The Sociological Approach
    The outlook of Tarde is primarily social, and his sociology is concerned with three primary processes, Repetition, Opposition, and Adaptation.
Tarde's Classification
    In his more detailed treatment of opposition Tarde attempts a systematic classification.
The Zero Criterion
    Scientists tend to agree with Renouviers' view that the only true opposites are those wich exhaust a field by negation.
A Fresh Start
    It is significant that Tarde's excursion into this uncharted region attracted little attention eigher in England or on the continent, in spite of its author's world-wide reputation.

III . Analytical

    The linguistic aspect of the geeral problem of Opposition has been curiously neglected by those whom it should most concern.
THE SCALE AND THE CUT
    The study of a large number of such pairs suggests as a preliminary hypothesis that we are confronted by a very fundamental distinction in any thoery of opposites--that namekly, between the Scale and the Cut.
THE DIRECTIONAL BASIS
    The opposite sides of a cut and the opposite ends of a scale will go a long way towards convering the cases of opposition with which lexicology is confronted, but neither feature, as such, will help us woth 'opposite directions.'
ATTRACTION AND REPULSION
    In attraction and repulsion we are again concerned essentially with directional opposition.
ANALYSIS OF EXAMPLES
    Returning now to our twety-five candidates, let us consider each in turn, in the light of our provisional hypothesis.
SCHEMATIC SUMMARY
    By thus testing the hypothesis of the Scale and the Cut on a selection of pairs commonly regarded as opposites we find that in every case the directional factor is relevant.
THE VERBAL FACTOR
    From the technological standpoint, as envisaged by Basic English, noun forms are fundamentally names of moveable objects, while the adjective is primarily the name of a sensational element in our experience.

IV . Diagrammatic

    In the light of this discursive approach we may now proceed to the technique of diagrammatiization. Opposition is based on spatial experience.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BODY
    The symbolic forms which have been developed in ordinary language for the expression of these distinctions have been crystallized not only in terms of two-dimensional projection, but also in a vry special relation to the human body.

V . Notation

    In order to simplify the descrition of the various kinds of opposition for purposes of Definition a simple form of Notation is desirable. The value of such a notation in practice will depend partly on its convenience both for typewritten and printed material.
APPENDIX     Though the theory of Opposition here outlined has a direct bearing on the whole field of verbal controvery -- for the attainment of what may be called Polar Bearings -- its immediate ortholgoical application is mnemonic. INDEX