Binary oppositions

Binary thinking is obviously a Bad Thing (as binary opposed, to, say a Good Thing). But perhaps not all binary thinking is so bad:

It is better to be alive than dead. It is better to be free than to be a slave. It is better to be healthy than sick. It is better to be adequately nourished than malnourished. It is better to drink pure water than contaminated water. It is better to have effective sanitation than to live over an open sewer. It is better to be well educated than to be illiterate and ignorant. It is better to be able to practise the form of worship prescribed by your religion than to be prevented from doing so. It is better to be able to speak freely and be able to join social and political organizations of your choice than to fear that, of your activities attract the disfavour of the regime, you face arbitrary arrest, torture or 'disappearance' at the hands of bodies organized by or connived at by the state. And so on.

... There are a variety of way in which we might support the claim that such interests are universal. One would be to argue that there is a universal human nature which gives rise to certain physiological and psychological needs. [...] it may usefully be supplemented by an appeal to the choices actually made by people in a position to make choices. [...] people strongly prefer life to death, freedom to slavery, and health to sickness. [...] It was the anthropologist, not the people involved, who elevated the value of cultural diversity above that of health.
(Brian Barry, Culture & Equality, 2001, p.285)

If you're into polemical defences of liberalism, universalism and egalitarianism, go and buy it. Then read it. Then quote it in a post.