EpicentRx Word of the Week: Aporia

Jan 15, 2024

“What’s the storia with aporia?”

“Don’t be in doubt about the meaning of aporia.”

Aporia noun

uh-poor-ee-uh

Aporetic adjective

Definition:

  1. an expression of skepticism or doubt.
  2. an irresolvable paradox.

Example sentences:

“Two classic aporias or insoluble questions are ‘what came first, the chicken or the egg?’ and ‘to be or not to be.'”

“Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poem which begins, ‘How do I love thee? Let me count the ways’ is an example of aporia because the poet pretends not to remember ‘all the ways’ and then enumerates them.”

“Oscar Wilde’s paradoxical maxim, ‘I can resist anything but temptation,’ is also an example of aporia.

“The debater inserted an aporia or thought-provoking question which left the audience scratching their heads.”

Context:

The EpicentRx small molecule, RRx-001, is an aporetic puzzle because it damages tumors, on the one hand, and protects normal tissues on the other.

Origin:

From Greek aporia impassable