The words

and

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,

involves

,

and that which is

. Niall Lucy, in his

(Blackwell: 2004), opens his entry on aporia with this definition: “

. 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…

2611 words

Citation: Allen, Graham. "Aporia". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 July 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1578, accessed 24 April 2024.]