Distinction

A distinction is a kind of map which helps us distinguish this from that. When I go to weed the zinnia bed I have in mind an image of a zinnia seedling. I hold in my mind a visual map of what zinnia seedlings look like. Anything which isn't a zinnia has to go.

A screwdriver is different from a bottle opener. I have used a screwdriver to open bottles and a bottle opener to turn a screw, but they each work best for the tasks for which they were designed. A distinction doesn't say that one thing is better than another...just different in a way that matters for the task before us.

see also, Distinction