RELATE
What to Relate?
To relate is to associate by convention or position. Things or events relate by comparison or contrast to one another. What, exactly, do you want to compare or contrast? Formal logic relates on the basis of the properties or characteristics of entities. Traditional cultures often relate based on emotional responses to things or events. Various versions of either one will suffice, provided the grounds for positing the relationship are kept clear – switching while in process gives inconsistency.
Why to Relate?
Things or events are compared or contrasted to make sense of a situation, and/or as part of the evidence for a decision or choice. Some kinds of relations are often thought of as “natural” – families, or species, or functions. But within such populations there are some characteristics would diversity as easily as unify. All relating, by comparison or contrast, is imposed rather than intrinsic – it is an explicit or implicit act of persuasion.
When to Relate?
When you need to make sense of things or events because their incoherence would be, in some way, troublesome, it is time to look for relationships. Or when a decision or choice is looming or pending, and the alternatives should be sorted and prioritized, it is time to look for relationships. The need may range all the way from deciding your favourite colour to choosing a mate – usually it is to reduce the cognitive dissonance of confusion!
Whether to Relate?
In many cases there are social or cultural taboos against either comparing certain things, or contrasting certain other things. Contrasting between sects within a religion (Sunnis vs. Shias) is often frowned upon outside the faith, but usually supported from within. Calling both saints and scoundrels “deviants” still makes practitioners wince. People do react to imputed associations, so be prepared for the consequences of attributing relations.
How to Relate?
State the basis of the comparison or contrast right from the beginning. Try to avoid a major comparison or contrast (between notable things, or events, or persons) on the basis of a minor characteristic – this is often done to disguise the fact that the real rationale for positing the relationship is either antipathy or allegiance rather than any substantive attribute, but since this may seem petty or self-serving a proxy feature is substituted.
References
C.K. Ogden
OPPOSITION
Indiana UP, Bloomington, 1967 [1932]