The words aporia and aporetic figure significantly and frequently in the writings of the French philosopher Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) and in the deconstructive school of literary and cultural theory which his work inspired. Originating in the Greek, aporia involves doubt, perplexity and that which is impassable. Niall Lucy, in his A Derrida Dictionary (Blackwell: 2004), opens his entry on aporia with this definition: “aporia. A Greek term denoting a logical contradiction, “aporia” is used by Derrida to refer to what he often calls the “blind spots” of any metaphysical argument.” The definition is useful, especially in alerting us to the issue of “blind spots”, however it requires taking somewhat further. A more precise definition of the concept would be as follows: “a logical contradiction beyond rational resolution”. We will see this more clearly if...
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Citation: Allen, Graham. "Aporia". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 July 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1578, accessed 05 December 2025.]
