Abstract

Amartya Sen and others argue that a distorted form of multiculturalism called plural monoculturalism fosters a potentially dangerous kind of multiculturalism based on solitarist thinking supported by fragmentary logic. We explicate the roles played by solitarist thinking, fragmentary logic and negative identity in defective forms of multiculturalism and argue that genuine multiculturalism is best understood using what we call particularist logic, pragmatically operating in context, to form the basis for a diversity of individual identities.