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P hilosophy of language, metaphysics A pair of concepts that are opposite in meaning , where each of them can be understood or identified only in terms of its contrast with the other. The notion is also called conceptual polarity. Neither member of the pair has an autonomous existence as a concept apart from the other, and neither member can logically be reduced to the other. In many cases, one concept of the polar pair is formed in association with the other from which it is distinguished. Examples of polar pairs include up and down, unity and plurality, physical and mental , and error and truth. The application of each entails the possibility of applying the other. In the history of Western philosophy, various polarities have been established, and usually one member is thought to be superior to the other. Derrida 's deconstructionism is intended to reject dichotomous conceptual structures and their relations of unequal power and value , but it is difficult to determine whether we can do without such concept pairs or whether objectionable implications of value can be detached from them. “A particularly important type of discrimination is that where one concept, so to speak, includes by exclusion. Concepts related in this way constitute the most important concepts of our thinking, we denoted as ‘polar-related concept pairs’.” Reiss, The Basis of Scientific Thinking ... log in or subscribe to read full text