Ineffability

Ineffability is concerned with ideas that cannot or should not be expressed in spoken words (or language in general), often being in the form of a taboo or incomprehensible term. This property is commonly associated with philosophy, aspects of existence, and similar concepts that are inherently "too great", complex, or abstract to be adequately communicated. In addition, illogical statements, principles, reasons, and arguments are intrinsically ineffable along with impossibilities, contradictions, and paradoxes. Terminology describing the nature of experience cannot be properly conveyed in dualistic symbolic language; it is believed that this knowledge is only held by the individual from which it originates. Obscene profanity and vulgarisms, however, can easily (and clearly) be stated – but they simply should not be and so are still considered ineffable.

Notable quotations

"Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent." — Ludwig Wittgenstein

"The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name." — the Tao Te Ching

"We shall grapple with the ineffable, and see if we may not eff it after all." — Douglas Adams in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

"I'm in the business of effing the ineffable." — Alan Watts

"You can't second guess ineffability, I always say." — Aziraphale in Good Omens

Things said to be ineffable

Things said to be essentially incommunicable

• The innate properties of any form of perception, at any level (such as awareness, self-consciousness, or other perceptions of the perceived to an arbitrary extent)
• The nature of qualia (sensory experiences), such as colors or flavors
• The nature of dreams
• The nature of emotions (with love being a prominent example)
• The nature of religious experiences, e.g. Søren Kierkegaard's analysis of Abraham in Fear and Trembling, Problemata III, and in particular the mystic's realization of nonduality
• The near-death experience
• The experience of birth
• The psychedelic experience is largely considered ineffable to psychologists, philosophers and psychonauts alike
• The musical experience, following Theodor Adorno, Vladimir Jankélévitch, among others
• The human soul (see also sentience and the hard problem of consciousness)
• The Dao
• Nirvana

Things said to be incomprehensibly incommunicable

• The size of the universe
• Pre-mortal-existence
• Post-death
• The concept of Infinity
• The concept of Nothing
• Some interpretations of God
• Omniscience
• Omnipotence
• Omnipresence
• Omnibenevolence
• Higher Dimensions
• Aleph
• A square with 3 sides, the pre-big bang universe, or any other illogical proposition

Things whose expression is regarded as sacred, or otherwise socially prohibited

• The name of a god or gods, in some religions^[1]
  • The Tetragrammaton (YHWH, by orthodox Jewish tradition)

Things said to be too disastrous to be spoken aloud

Not ineffable; remember, ineffability refers to not being able to be properly explained in words:

• In C.S. Lewis' novel The Magician's Nephew, there is a word, referred to as the deplorable word, which ends all life on the planet on which it is spoken.
• In Terry Pratchett's the Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, the inept and cowardly "wizzard" Rincewind is said to have accidentally learned one of the eight most powerful spells in existence, which created the Discworld. Although no one is exactly sure what this particular spell does, they are fairly certain that it will unmake the world if it is ever uttered.
  • This is the only spell Rincewind knows, and throughout the books he heroically resists the temptation to speak it. It is only at the end of The Light Fantastic that Rincewind can recite all 8 spells in the Octavo, and help new worlds come into being.
• The true name of the Creator. Supposedly said only once, at the beginning of creation, therefore saying it again could undo creation.

See also

• Meaning (linguistics)
• True name
• effable

References