Identity is formed through contrast with difference

Evidence

No two entities of any kind can present themselves simultaneously to the mind; no, nor can so much as the same object present itself at different times, without presenting the idea of Relation. For relation is a fictitious entity, which is produced, and has place, as often as the mind, having perception of any one object, obtains, at the same, or at any immediately succeeding instant, perception of any other object, or even of that same object, if the perception be accompanied with the perception of its being the same; Diversity is, in the one case, the name of the relation, Identity in the other case. But, as identity is but the negation of diversity, thence if, on no occasion, diversity had ever been, neither, on any occasion, would any such idea as that of identity have come into existence. — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 484 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Identity is constructed through opposition to a continuously reinterpreted other; Identity axes of difference fail to align into a single opposition; Différance produces meaning through a weave of differences, not binaries (+17 more)

Related

• Relation arises from successive perceptions and identity is negation of diversity (similarity 0.89)
• Identity relations involve more than a single sameness-difference axis. (similarity 0.82)
• Identity is internally mediated by the non-identical (similarity 0.81)
• Identity can only be understood through difference, never self-sameness (similarity 0.81)
• Identity is constituted through relation to what is other and different from itself (similarity 0.80)
• Every identity is constituted relationally through what it excludes (similarity 0.79)
• Multiple modes of relating define the world simultaneously, not as guises but identities (similarity 0.79)
• Identification is always constructed through ambivalence and splitting. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• European identity formed through internal cohesion paired with contrast to other worlds #exemplifies (0.95)
• Identity is constituted through splitting and an interiorized Other, not pure difference. #complicates (0.80)
• Relation arises from successive perceptions and identity is negation of diversity #corroborates (0.75) — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 484