Categories

A renowned diplomat once observed that people usually judge others by their actions and themselves by their ideals. If someone utters an untruth, we call it a lie; if it falls from our own lips, we are likely to label it “discretion.” We deem another’s failure to act a matter of neglect; our own failure we label “prudence.” In international affairs, military action is either an “act of aggression” or a “defensive action,” depending on which side you are on. Today, there seems to be a particular fondness for trying to come up with a term or expression to identify the age we live in. After the “Plastic Age” came the “Electronic Age” or the “Age of Automation” or the “Age of Aquarius” or the “Age of Anxiety.” But the one classification that truly characterizes our time is the “Age of Categories.” So many systems and disciplines and specializations are engaged in the work of placing man and his actions into carefully defined slots. From…