STUDY / OBJECTIVE
Separate a yin-yang statement into its object, reference and context, identifying its role in different materials.
01 / STUDY
Name both sides of the relation
When yin and yang appear, identify what is being compared: light and shade, inside and outside, activity and stillness, or lines in a figure. These contexts use different scales. Writing the subject and its reference explicitly prevents a local assignment from silently becoming a universal rule.
02 / STUDY
Separate description, assignment and inference
A solid line is a graphic description. Calling it a yang line records terminology. Predicting an event from it adds an inference. Each statement needs a different kind of support. Separate columns make the transition from observed feature to interpretation visible.
03 / STUDY
Retain differences across texts
Keep the title, edition and context of each text when comparing assignments. A shared term creates a search lead. A claim of direct transmission additionally needs chronological, citation or circulation evidence. Record divergent mappings before trying to explain how they developed.
WORKED EXAMPLE
Writing a relation card
Fictional diagram-reading exercise: line three in figure A is solid, and its caption calls it yang.
Object: line three in A. Reference: the broken-line convention in the same diagram. Scope: this notation system.
Record shape, position and caption. Do not add judgments about character, health or events.
Add the actual source of A. Mark a teaching diagram as such when it has no historical source.
The result is a bounded, inspectable description, with interpretive conclusions recorded separately.
PRACTICE / REFLECTION
Exercises and answers
01Does shared use of yin-yang establish direct borrowing?
Read the explanation
No. Compare meanings, dates, identifiable quotations and circulation evidence. Shared vocabulary and direct borrowing are claims of different strength.
02What is missing from “this object is always yin”?
Read the explanation
The reference, classification conditions, textual scope and timescale are missing. State that a particular source assigns it to yin within a specified scheme, then examine whether generalization is justified.
A distinction to retain
Do not turn a traditional classification into a fixed hierarchy of human worth or a substitute for examining the material.
Unit output
Four relation cards, each with an object, reference, context, source and limitation.
REFERENCES
Reading references
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy · passages on categories, correlation and change
Historical context for concepts; relation cards, diagrams and exercises below are editorial material.Summer 2021 archive · introduction and interpretive traditions
A modern scholarly overview used to distinguish textual and interpretive layers.References reviewed: 2026-10-24. Examples, record templates and explanations are editorial teaching material. Fictional inputs are not historical events or efficacy evidence. Citations imply no affiliation.
Personal study record; not a grade, assessment or credential.
Editorial study material · 2026-10-24