Distinction (philosophy)

For Pierre Bourdieu's book, see Distinction (book).

Distinction, the fundamental philosophical abstraction, involves the recognition of difference.[1]

In classical philosophy, there were various ways in which things could be distinguished. The merely logical or virtual distinction, such as the difference between concavity and convexity, involves the mental apprehension of two definitions, but which cannot be realized outside the mind, as any concave line would be a convex line considered from another perspective. A real distinction involves a level of ontological separation, as when squirrels are distinguished from llamas (for no squirrel is a llama, and no llama is a squirrel).[2] A real distinction is thus different than a merely conceptual one, in that in a real distinction, one of the terms can be realized in reality without the other being realized.

Later developments include Duns Scotus's formal distinction, which developed in part out of the recognition in previous authors that there need to be an intermediary between logical and real distinctions.[3]

Some relevant distinctions to the history of Western philosophy include:

  1. ^ Sokolowski, Robert (1998-01-01). "The Method of Philosophy: Making Distinctions". Review of Metaphysics. 51 (3): 515–532.
  2. ^ Copleston, Frederick (2003-06-12). History of Philosophy Volume 2: Medieval Philosophy. A&C Black. ISBN 9780826468963.
  3. ^ Wengert, R. G.; Institute, The Hegeler (1965-11-01). "The Development of the Doctrine of the Formal Distinction in the Lectura Prima of John Duns Scotus". Monist. 49 (4): 571–587. doi:10.5840/monist196549435.