Sorry. It’s the result of my junior year AP History class. The teacher said “‘compare and contrast’ is redundant, as comparing implies contrasting”. Which while true in a sense doesn’t change the fact that ‘compare’ is often taken to mean ‘find similarities’.
My impression is that outside of the contexts where “compare and contrast” is said, the word “compare” always means “examine the differences of these two same-kind-of-thing things” — e.g. comparison shopping, or comparing values in programming — and the “find similarities” meaning is dead. Am I wrong/unobservant/in a niche?
Do you mean this? I see some connection, but the emphasis and background assumptions seem extremely different from Taoism.
Perhaps I should have said “contrast with Nietzsche’s mirror men”.
That makes more sense.
Sorry. It’s the result of my junior year AP History class. The teacher said “‘compare and contrast’ is redundant, as comparing implies contrasting”. Which while true in a sense doesn’t change the fact that ‘compare’ is often taken to mean ‘find similarities’.
My impression is that outside of the contexts where “compare and contrast” is said, the word “compare” always means “examine the differences of these two same-kind-of-thing things” — e.g. comparison shopping, or comparing values in programming — and the “find similarities” meaning is dead. Am I wrong/unobservant/in a niche?