In the grey zone

摘要

We seem beset by an instinct to make binary oppositions: either our choices are free or they are hardwired; we are shaped by either nurture or nature; mental processes are important or physical processes are; morality is a social construct or it is biological in origin. Yet one of the most remarkable things about animals like us is that we can see those binary oppositions for what they are. We can understand why these 'either or's are wholly inadequate for understanding the phenomena at hand.