Dictionary:
a·po·ri·a (ə-pôr'ē-ə, ə-pōr'-)  |
[Greek, difficulty of passing, from aporos, impassable : a-, without; see a-1 + poros, passage.]
| Wordsmith Words: aporia |
(uh-POR-ee-uh)
noun
1. An expression of doubt.
2. Contradiction, paradox, or confusion posed by the presence of conflicting propositions.
Etymology
From Late Latin, from Greek aporos (without passage), from poros (passage)
Today's word is derived from the same ancestor per- (to pass) that is the source of such words as emporium, export, fare, ford, osteoporosis, port, and porch.
| Literary Dictionary: aporia |
aporia, in rhetoric, a figure of speech in which a speaker deliberates, or purports to be in doubt about a question, e.g. ‘Well, what can one say?’, or ‘I hardly know which of you is the worse.’ Hamlet's famous ‘To be or not to be’ soliloquy is an extended example. In the critical terminology of deconstruction, the term is frequently used in the sense of a final impasse or paradox: a point at which a text's self‐contradictory meanings can no longer be resolved, or at which the text undermines its own most fundamental presuppositions. It is this aporia that deconstructive readings set out to identify in any given work or passage, leading to the claim that the text's meanings are finally ‘un‐decidable’.
Adjective: aporetic.
| Philosophy Dictionary: aporia |
A serious perplexity or insoluble problem. The Socratic method of raising problems without providing solutions is sometimes called the aporetic method. Deconstruction is often credited with uncovering the concealed aporetic nature of texts upon which it is practiced.
| Obscure Words: aporia |
| Wikipedia: Aporia |
Aporia (Ancient Greek: ἀπορία: impasse; lack of resources; puzzlement; doubt; confusion ) denotes, in philosophy, a philosophical puzzle or state of puzzlement, and, in rhetoric, a rhetorically useful expression of doubt.
Contents |
In philosophy, an aporia is a philosophical puzzle or a seemingly insoluble impasse in an inquiry, often arising as a result of equally plausible yet inconsistent premises. It can also denote the state of being perplexed, or at a loss, at such a puzzle or impasse. The notion of an aporia is principally found in Greek philosophy, but it also plays a role in post-structuralist philosophy, as in the writings of Derrida and Irigaray.
Plato's early dialogues are often called his 'aporetic' dialogues because they typically end in aporia. In such a dialogue, Socrates questions his interlocutor about the nature or definition of a concept, for example virtue or courage. Socrates then, through elenctic testing, shows his interlocutor that his answer is unsatisfactory. After a number of such failed attempts, the intelocutor admits he is in aporia about the examined concept, concluding that he does not know what it is. In Plato's Meno (84a-c), Socrates describes the purgative effect of reducing someone to aporia: it shows someone who merely thought he knew something that he does not in fact know it and instills in him a desire to investigate it.
In Aristotle's Metaphysics aporia plays a role in his method of inquiry. In contrast to a rationalist inquiry that begins from a priori principles, or an empiricist inquiry that begins from a tabula rasa, Aristotle begins his inquiry in the Metaphysics by surveying the various aporiai that exist, drawing in particular on what puzzled his predecessors. Aristotle claims that 'with a view to the science we are seeking (i.e. metaphysics), it is necessary that we should first review the things about which we need, from the outset, to be puzzled' (995a24). Book Beta of the Metaphysics is a list of the aporiai that preoccupy the rest of the work.
Aporia is also a rhetorical device whereby the speaker expresses a doubt - often feigned - about his position or asks the audience rhetorically how he or she should proceed. It is also called dubitatio. For example (Demosthenes On The Crown, 129):
| “ | I am at no loss for information about you and your family; but I am at a loss where to begin. Shall I relate how your father Tromes was a slave in the house of Elpias, who kept an elementary school near the Temple of Theseus, and how he wore shackles on his legs and a timber collar round his neck? or how your mother practised daylight nuptials in an outhouse next door to Heros the bone-setter, and so brought you up to act in tableaux vivants and to excel in minor parts on the stage? | ” |
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 | undecidable |
| Critical Art Ensemble (1988 Theater Film) |
| elenchus |
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Literary Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Copyright © Chris Baldick 2001, 2004. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Philosophy Dictionary. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. Copyright © 1994, 1996, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Obscure Words. © 2008 by Michael A. Fischer http://home.comcast.net/~wwftd. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Aporia". Read more |
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