aporia
- noun
- /əˈpɔːriə/
- Literature
:
aporía
- Philosophers often grapple with an aporia that arises from conflicting interpretations of a text.
Examples
-
Critics such as Jean Chretien-Goni and Jacques Deschamps have focused on the paradoxes and aporias of Aristotle's and Plato's texts.
Academic text (1995) -
"I was more and more convinced," she stated in a reflection on the genesis and development of her own theology, "that the crucial aporia of the modern doctrine of the Trinity lay in or around the terms immanent and economic."
Academic text (2002) -
So, by revealing the aporias as moments of undecidability, deconstruction enables us to see where there may be possibilities to think and practice differently.
Academic text (2011) -
For the art historian, however, these questions constitute the aporia of the title of this essay, the difficulty seemingly incapable of resolution (Hawthorn 1994:6-7).
Academic text (1997) -
The debate centered on the aporia in the argument, leaving the audience unsure of the true position.
-
In literary analysis, an aporia can reveal the complexities and ambiguities present in a narrative.
How Hard
- Literature
99
7.1
117
4.3
258
4.2
57
6.3
296
4.0
Surface Forms
Etymology
Aporia comes from Greek parts a- meaning 'not' and poros meaning 'a way through', like in porous. So an aporia is a point in an argument or text that has 'no way through' and resists a single clear interpretation.