I notice something strange about the use of the word ‘woke’. It is used to identify people who are imagined to be opposed to people who use it. So you hear something like “I have nothing against x people, but I won’t tolerate the fact that they won’t tolerate anyone who is in fact against them.” It is imagined as an intolerance of intolerance, which is of course a form of intolerance, even though it is provoked by intolerance, which, if you inquire, also appears to be provoked by intolerance, which may in turn have been sparked by intolerance brought about by intolerance and so on. Once you are caught in this loop, there is no way out of it. You are caught in a trap.

This conundrum has nothing to do with the term ‘woke’. It is a philosophical catch 22 which we might call ‘the binary trap’, which afflicts any conceptual structure predicated upon the division of classes of people, ideas or objects into oppositions. Each attempt to reconcile an opposition is defeated as a further opposition is created by the new attempt. Almost every distinction can be defeated by what appears to become a hall of mirrors. This applies even to the distinction between self and world, as each imagination of difference creates a further distinction. A simple example is of a writer who creates a story about a character which has aspects of himself. By definition, that character must then replicate the action, and the resulting character is then condemned to further replication, and so on. Identity is lost in this process.

The only possible response is to understand that there are probably no opposites. All apparent opposites must be considered to be just probabilities and opinions.

(And this also relates to individuality and character. Even in autobiography characters are not people. They are imagined differences and predicated on uncertainty.)

The correct argument against polarity may be derived from quantum physics.

“Quantum theory … removes opposites, because for the most part it removes certainties. The position and movement of mostly undetectable tiny particles are calculated by means of probability. It is clearly impossible to have two uncertainties which oppose each other, because neither states a proposition.”

The warning sign is when a position vanishes if its opposite position is removed. Imagine what ‘fast’ would mean if that were the only word for ‘speed’. Or, for that matter, what ‘woke’ would mean if that were the only available term for perception.

Quantum physics works by means of a fundamentally simple calculation. The sum of probabilities relating to relating to a single event must always be one. Therefore each uncertainty encompasses any other. Every new position simply means an adjustment in the calculation of probability, so that it is included as a possible cause. The total always remains one. This is how physics reaches conclusions where there is only uncertainty, and it is possible for philosophy to do the same. It is the only way to evade endless recession.