Which one came first, the chicken or the egg? Few reasoning incites both reflection and inherent contradiction as it incites aporia. These knots invite reflection on the contradictory paradoxes of life. The apoyry or wisdom of contradiction.
The term comes from the Greek and can be defined as a state of uncertainty or perplexity when exposed to two opposing but acceptable arguments. Is it, for example, the classic: to be or not to be? William Shakespeare, or the classic question “who was born first, chicken or egg. ” These are insoluble questions, philosophical dilemmas that rarely get us anywhere.
- However.
- In the past and in the time of Plato and Socrates.
- This type of reasoning was a valuable exercise in initiating deep debates and dialectical exercises.
- The key was to raise doubts.
- To throw a rhetorical question and thus to achieve a transition.
- Between the ambiguity of the world.
- Between the contradiction of life and complex reasoning with meaningless and meaninglessness at the same time.
Moreover, if there is one thing to assume is that the reality around us is full of unbearable aporia, we are, for example, an incredibly individualistic globalized society, we are free beings, but at the same time victims of a thousand conditions, of infinite mechanisms that make us up and standardize us.
Is Apporia the wisdom of contradiction, which invites us to make precious reflections, but which leads us nowhere?
When referring to aporia, it is inevitable not to mention the sophysma of the Greek philosopher Zeno. One of them was known as “the Achilles paradox and the turtle. “The essence of this idea was based on one argument: the stoic sage movement itself sees mobility as a concatenation of resting states, that is, as a sum of static images.
Therefore, for him, a turtle could be as fast or faster than Achilles, that of light feet, because movement, like time, is just an illusion, on this premise explained that when an arrow is fired, it does not move. anytime. Its movement is the result of the infinite sum of its rest points. So what about this kind of reasoning? If we rely on Newton’s classic mechanics and laws, we can completely refute it.
However, if someone integrates Zeno’s own perspective on the succession of states of rest, they may come to understand it. Therefore, as we understand these examples, we realize that the feeling of aporia is familiar to all of us.
After all, it is this uncertainty that we sometimes experience in the face of two contradictory but interesting and sometimes even valid ideas, it is a knot of perplexity that, without being directly decisive, invites us to reflect.
& Quot; Aporetic & quot; is an interesting adjective that we should take more into account. In fact, it would be good to acquire this characteristic, this exercise of reasoning and reflection with which to deconstruct many of our realities to discover that there are more options, perspectives and realities.
Deconstructing aporia means allowing us to discover the contradiction of things and also to accept that, on a day-to-day basis, there are contrary ideas in their bases and in their essence, but which can still be accepted. In addition, it is possible aprender. de each approach, even if it is irreconcilable. In any case, the main objective is nothing more than to awaken the perplexity of thinking, of accepting otherwise as part more of life itself.
At this time we used the term aporie as synonymous with difficulty, we do it to represent a dead end, a challenge without an apparent rational solution, however, for Greek philosophy it was like an enigma, as an exercise that encouraged dialogue, exchange of ideas, theories and approaches to knowledge.
The aporia should not be seen as a kind of meaningless Gordian knot; this state of uncertainty should invite analysis and reasoning. Therefore, it is interesting to understand the two existing typologies.
In this type of aporia, the starting point is always a question thrown into the air, a question that is usually used for the reflection of others even if they do not have a clear answer, the objective is to promote ideas and arguments.
It is interesting to know that most aporia always begin with questions: “Who was born first, the egg or the hen?”, “Can we always believe what our eyes see or see through our personal interpretations and judgments?”, “Who was born first, the fruit name or is it the other way around??
In this second typology, we are faced with a somewhat aggressive or at least imposing heyday. In this case, dialogue is not sought, but to impose its own truth. It’s as if we just pointed out exclusively that “the hen existed before the egg. “The idea still contradicts us, but the phrase already has a certain tone and seeks to convince us of a preconception.
The most appropriate thing in all cases is to use an argumentative aporia that begins with a question, only in this way can dialogue and reflection be stimulated.
In conclusion, in addition to the classic metaphors plato and Aristotle used with their students through rhetorical questions, there is an undeniable fact: in today’s world there are multiple aporia, politics, society, the world of advertising, etc. their bases several paradoxes that confuse us with their absurdity.
It is true that from our position we cannot solve anything, the contradiction is sometimes continuous: we can come to understand all the positions, but we are always perplexed, achieving it and reflecting on these antagonistic universes is positive and will enrich what we already have. knows it as the wisdom of contradiction.