Distinction (philosophy)

For Pierre Bourdieu's book, Distinction, see La Distinction.

Distinction, the fundamental philosophical abstraction, involves the recognition of difference.

Cybernetics deals with the rational paradox of self-reference by distinguishing it from hetero-reference in the abstract distinction. Prefacing the distinction comes the 'proemial relation' (a term coined by Gotthard Gunther in his 1970 paper "Cognition and Volition") between subjectivity and profundity which, by the mark of distinction, become distinguished.

George Spencer-Brown's calculus of indication (see the Laws of Form) starts with the injunction "Draw a distinction". The consequences of this primordial actuality include all given dimensionality and time.