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Charles Hampden-Turner Quotes

It is in vain that we search for an essential difference between good and evil, for their constituents are the same. The crucial distinction lies in their structure, i.e., the manner in which the pieces are assembled.

It is in vain that we search for an essential difference between good and evil, for their constituents are the same. The crucial distinction lies in their structure, i.e., the manner in which the pieces are assembled. Evil is disintegration, an angry juxtaposition of alienated opposites, with parts always striving to repress other parts. Good is the synthesis and reconciliation of these same pieces.

Charles Hampden-Turner
Lying, Opposites, Differences
Charles Hampden-Turner (1982). “Maps of the Mind”, Macmillan Publishing Company

If an instrument similar to a geiger-counter could be invented that counted moral judgements instead, we would learn to duck as people became increasingly 'moral', since lethal force is usually imminent. So far from moral fervour being an alternative to force, it is frequently the overture, the accompaniment and the memorial to it.

Charles Hampden-Turner
Moral Judgement, Ducks, People

What if the book (of Genesis) is describing a dawning awareness of the world? The anthropologist Edmund Leach has argued that the 'bit' or binary digit is the basic unit of pre-logical communication. Genesis is a sprouting of 'bits', ie elementary binary distinctions.

Charles Hampden-Turner
Communication, Book, What If
Charles Hampden-Turner (1982). “Maps of the Mind”, Macmillan Publishing Company

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