Discrimination

The term discrimination (from Latin discriminare " separate ", " separate ", " distinguish ") describes the distinction , the difference or the distinguishing mark . The ability to discriminate is accordingly the ability to differentiate.

Differentiation from discrimination

The word discrimination , which has largely replaced the word discrimination today, has the same origin , but with the exception of the composition of positive discrimination today, in contrast to earlier, mostly has a negative meaning. If you want to use the word in a neutral sense, you often fall back on the word differentiation and sometimes the word discrimination. The English equivalent of discrimination means both discrimination and discrimination.

Derived words

The word discriminate is used both as a verb to the word discrimination and as a verb to the word discrimination. The verb discriminate has been used in Germany since the 16th century, initially without any valuation. Borrowing, which has been documented continuously since the late 19th century, is now generally used with a negative meaning.

The adjective for the word discrimination is discriminable and means something like distinguishable.

Use in physiology and education

In physiology , the ability to discriminate is understood as the ability to differentiate between stimuli in terms of time and space. The ability to discriminate on the fingertip is z. B. considerably larger than, for example, on the skin of the back. Verbal discrimination is the distinction between individual sounds.

In particular, phonetic discrimination or auditory discrimination or the discrimination of phonemes also play a role in pedagogy , namely in learning to read and write.

Sometimes psychology also looks at the ability to discriminate against more complex phenomena. It can be important for someone who has been bitten by a dog, but who has a lot to do with dogs professionally, to develop the ability to discriminate between different dogs in order to be able to continue doing his job. In this context, one also speaks of learning to discriminate .

Use in ethics

Ernst Tugendhat differentiates between primary and secondary discrimination:

“By primary discrimination I understand the idea that certain classes of people have more or less value than others and that therefore, in a distribution, one has priority over the other. In contrast, «secondary discrimination» stands for rules such as B. "Those who have participated more must receive more of the result" or "Those who are more needy receive more", and these are rules that compensate for a previous inequality and thus restore consideration as equal . "

Use in economics

The term discrimination can also be found in economics. Under certain conditions, a seller can charge different prices from different groups of people. One then speaks of discrimination prices. This discrimination is possible because buyers are able or willing to pay different prices based on their financial situation or personal preferences.

See also

• Discriminant Analysis , a Statistical Process

Web links

Wiktionary: Discrimination  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hans Schulz, Otto Basler, Gerhard Strauss: German Foreign Dictionary. Institute for the German Language, 1995, ISBN 3-11-012622-2 , p. 666.
2. ↑ Duden Foreign Dictionary. 1990: “distinguish; differentiate against each other ".
3. ↑ Meyer's Encyclopedia: Discrimination [Latin] »(differentiation)«; "Foreign trade: different treatment of partner countries in foreign trade."
4. ↑ Friedrich Erdmann Petri (Ed.): Pressed manual of foreign words in German written and spoken language. 10th edition. Arnoldsche Buchhandlung, Leipzig 1852, p. 268.
5. ^ Wilhelm Hoffmann: General foreign dictionary for the Germanization and explanation of the foreign expressions occurring in our language. Louis Zander, Leipzig 1865, p. 228.
6. ↑ Tilmann Altwicker: People Legal equality protection. Springer, Heidelberg et al. 2011, p. 99 f.
7. ↑ Pons: PONSline - discrimination ( Memento of the original of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : dis · crimi · na · tion - noun: 1. discernment | the |, 2. different treatment; Discrimination; Unequal treatment | the |. 
8. ^ Hans Schulz et al.: German Foreign Dictionary. Walter de Gruyter, 1995, ISBN 3-11-016235-0 , p. 666.
9. ^ Wilhelm Hoffmann: General foreign dictionary for the Germanization and explanation of the foreign expressions occurring in our language. Louis Zander, Leipzig 1865, p. 228.
10. ↑ Günter Krauthan: Basic psychological knowledge for the police. 4th edition. Beltz, Weinheim / Basel 2004, p. 47.
11. ↑ Hartwig Schröder: Didactic dictionary. 3. Edition. Oldenbourg, Munich / Vienna 2001, p. 80.
12. ↑ Ernst Tugendhat: anthropology instead metaphysics. Beck, Munich 2010, p. 231.
13. ↑ Ludwig von Mises: Economics. Theory of Action and Business. Editions Union, Geneva 1940, p. 346 ff.