Distinctions of Distinction: For a Logic of Mutual Inclusion Available to Purchase

The postscript systematizes the logic of mutual inclusion that the book asserts is necessary to understand fascism, or any political logic. It begins with a critique of the concept of identity as the signature accomplishment of European modernity. It then argues that the alternative logic to identity-based thinking, which hinges on the general idea and categorical thinking critiqued in part 2, makes entirely different kinds of distinctions. Its “distinctions of distinction” (real, modal, formal, and umbral distinction) are catalogued. Al revolve around the idea of the collective singular. They add up to a “modal metaphysics”–a metaphysics concerned with modes or manners, in contrast to substance metaphysics’ focus on objects versus subjects. A plea is made to remember that the logical is political, and that every politics has its logic. This means that psychological or sociological explanation must always be supplemented and critiqued by philosophical inquiry.