Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A figure of speech in which the speaker expresses or purports to be in doubt about a question.
- noun An insoluble contradiction or paradox in a text's meanings.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In rhetoric, a professed doubt where to begin or what to say on account of the variety of matter.
- noun An equality of reasons for and against a given proposition.
- noun In pathology, febrile anxiety; uneasiness.
- noun Also
apory .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Rhet.) A figure in which the speaker professes to be at a loss what course to pursue, where to begin to end, what to say, etc.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun rhetoric An expression of deliberation with oneself regarding uncertainty or doubt as to how to proceed.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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This aporia is a condition that can only be met by the gut, and the heart.
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This aporia is a condition that can only be met by the gut, and the heart.
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But his ineptitude in not changing the wording of the bordering text left a "literary seam" (what rhetoricians might term aporia) that sticks out like a pimpled nose.
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The impasse between the two, which Derrida called aporia, the Greek word for the impasse itself, is that we want both the conditional and unconditional at the same time but, yet, at the same time we don't want either of them because each of them has a shortcoming. "
Penn State Live 2010
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This points ot an "aporia" in the cultural psychology of the term "religion", a Janus-faced knot, which some of the instruments in the archive of "postmodernism" or "postcolonialism" can help to articulate as you have pointed out yourself in your following comment.
Very natural, even inevitable, for it to take on all the characteristics of a religion Tusar N Mohapatra 2008
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I am ashamed that I did not know the word "aporia" until today, but I'm grateful to you all for introducing me to it.
Perfume Review: Ormonde Jayne Ormonde Woman Marina Geigert 2008
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This points ot an "aporia" in the cultural psychology of the term "religion", a Janus-faced knot, which some of the instruments in the archive of "postmodernism" or "postcolonialism" can help to articulate as you have pointed out yourself in your following comment.
Archive 2008-11-01 Tusar N Mohapatra 2008
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This set of facts does not add up to an "aporia" or a "conceptual catachresis," as Guillory claims (215, 216); there is no logical impasse here — nor even a pragmatic or institutional one, as becomes obvious as soon as we broaden our horizon and look at the diverse kinds of critical projects that de Manian theory has in fact inspired over the last twenty years.
Professing Literature: John Guillory's Misreading of Paul de Man 2005
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In ancient Greece this might go under the name of "aporia".
Philosophy Blog 2010
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In his 2004 study No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive, Lee Edelman manoeuvred queer theory into a kind of aporia and thus deep crisis that persists to this day.
In the Middle 2010
stpeter commented on the word aporia
A fine Aristotelian word -- The Philosopher often introduced aporiai as a way of motivating the discussion.
December 30, 2006
lardlad commented on the word aporia
A paradox, an answer-less riddle.
What am I to do, what shall I do, what should I do, in my situation, how proceed? By aporia pure and simple? - Beckett, The Unnamable
March 23, 2008
belkjoseph commented on the word aporia
ah poor ria- a philosophical puzzle or state of puzzlement in rhetoric, a rhetorically useful expression of doubt
September 17, 2008
jmjarmstrong commented on the word aporia
JM is at a loss to explain aporia.
January 10, 2011
ruzuzu commented on the word aporia
"Typically, Socrates' opponent would make what would seem to be an innocuous assertion. In response, Socrates, via a step-by-step train of reasoning, bringing in other background assumptions, would make the person admit that the assertion resulted in an absurd or contradictory conclusion, forcing him to abandon his assertion and adopt a position of aporia."
-- https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Reductio_ad_absurdum&oldid=1053094000
December 28, 2021
bilby commented on the word aporia
Love me a bit of purporting.
December 28, 2021
stuartmathergibson commented on the word aporia
aporia
A figure of speech in which the speaker expresses or purports to be in doubt about a question;
an insoluble contradiction or paradox in a text's meanings.
February 27, 2022