Professor of Anthropology Doug Raybeck opened this year's Faculty Lecture Series to a crowded Red Pit with a talk titled "The Yang, The Yin, The Whole Damn Thing." Raybeck discussed the "you're right, I'm wrong" approach with which many humans come at the world, and the fact that conflict is inherent in discourse. He pointed out that this conflict is exacerbated in the West due to our tendencies for dualism and individualism, as well as our belief in the single correct answers that classical physics has given us.
Raybeck went on to show how differing opinions can actually be useful to better understanding a situation. "Anyone who knows they are right scares the hell out of me," Raybeck said. He concluded that conflict can be useful when you aren't looking for just one winner. When subjects are looked at from two opposite perspectives, such as humanistic vs. scientific, a lot more can be seen because the weaknesses of one method are the strengths of the other. Raybeck also demonstrated good reductionism vs. bad reductionism by analyzing the essence of "Deanhood" in Dean of Faculty David Paris.
In his characteristic style, Raybeck had promised to at least "mildly offend" everyone in the audience. The Hamilton crowd chose instead to be interested, posing challenging questions and comments that broadened the discussion.
