Definitions

Apodeictic; Apologetics/Apologete; Apologist; Aporia/Aporetic

Apposition; Appreciation; Argumentation/Argumentatious

Arguendo; Armchair; Arrogant; Asseverate; Assistive; Attavism

Attentive; Auctoritas Principis; Authentic; Autocentric

Automaton; Automorphic; Automorphism; Autosuggestion

apodeictic; apodictic (adj.; formal): clearly established or beyond dispute; [e.g.]: “Both these types of phenomena are apodeictic realities”; “He sought a new and apodictic foundation of human knowledge based on the liberation of man from the ancient and medieval tradition of the West”; (synonyms): incontrovertible, incontestable, undeniable, irrefutable, unassailable, beyond dispute, unquestionable, beyond question, indubitable, not in doubt, beyond doubt, beyond a shadow of a doubt, unarguable, inarguable, undebatable, unanswerable. [origin: Mid 17th century: via Latin apodīcticus, ‘demonstratively true’; from Greek apodeiktikós [ἀ #960;οδεικτικός], from apodeiknúnai [αποδεικνύναι] ‘show off’, ‘demonstrate’]. ~ (Oxford English Dictionary).

Apologetics/Apologete:

• apologetics (n.; used with a sing. verb): 1. the branch of theology that is concerned with defending or proving the truth of Christian doctrines; 2. formal argumentation in defence of something, such as a position or system. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary).

• apologetics (n.; functioning as singular): 1. the branch of theology concerned with the defence and rational justification of Christianity; 2. a defensive method of argument. ~ (Collins English Dictionary).

• apologetics (n.; used with a singular verb): the branch of theology concerned with the defence or proof of Christianity. [1725-35]. ~ (Webster’s College Dictionary).

• apologetics (n.): the study of the methods and contents of defences or proofs of Christianity; (adj.): apologetical. ~ (Ologies & Isms Dictionary).

• apologetics (n.): the branch of theology that is concerned with the defence of Christian doctrines (theology = the rational and systematic study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truth). ~ (Princeton’s WordNet 3.0).

• apologetics (n.): the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. [from Greek ἀπολογία (apología), ‘speaking in defence’; in the Classical Greek legal system, the prosecution delivered the κατηγορία (kategoria), the accusation or charge, and the defendant replied with an apologia, the defence]. ~ (2023 Wikipedia Encyclopaedia).>

• apologetics (n.): that branch of demonstrative or argumentative theology which is concerned with the grounds and defence of Christian belief and hope; [e.g.]: “Apologetics defends and vindicates Christianity, as the perfect religion of God for all mankind, against the attacks of infidelity”. (Philip Schaff, 1819-1893, “Christ and Christianity”, p. 4). [pl. of apologetic, after Late Latin apologetica, neut. pl. of apologeticus: see apologetic]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia).

• apologetics (n.): the branch of theology concerned with the defence and rational justification of Christianity. ~ (Collins Discovery Encyclopaedia).

• apologist (n.): 1. one who speaks or writes in defence of anything; one who champions a person or a cause, whether in public address or by literary means; one who makes an apology or defence; [e.g.]: “There is one difficult duty of an historian, which is too often passed over by the party-writer; it is to pause whenever he feels himself warming with the passions of the multitude, or becoming the blind apologist of arbitrary power”. (Isaac D’Israeli, 1766-1848, “Curiosities of Literature”, IV. 390); specifically; 2. Eccles., a defender of Christianity; in particular, one of the authors of the early Christian apologies. [= French apologiste; from apology]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia).

• apologete (n.): one skilled in that branch of theology which has to do with the grounds and defence of the Christian faith. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia).

Apologist:

apologist (.): a person who argues to defend or justify some policy or institution; [e.g.]: “an apologist for capital punishment”; (synonyms): justifier, vindicator; advocate, advocator, exponent, proponent (a person who pleads for a cause or propounds an idea).~ (Princeton’s WordNet 3.0).

Aporia/Aporetic:

• aporia (n.): (rhetoric) a figure in which the speaker professes to be at a loss what course to pursue, where to begin to end, what to say, etc.; (adj.): aporetic. [Greek aporiā, ‘difficulty of passing’, from aporos, ‘impassable’, from a-, ‘without’ + poros, ‘passage’]. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary).

• aporia (n.): (philosophy) puzzlement occasioned by the raising of philosophical objections without any proffered solutions, esp. in the works of Socrates; (adj.): aporetic. [C16: from Greek, literally: ‘a state of being at a loss’]. ~ (Collins English Dictionary).

• aporia (n.): a figure in which the speaker professes to be at a loss what course to pursue, where to begin to end, what to say, etc. ~ (Webster’s 1913 Dictionary).

• aporia: in philosophy, an aporia (Ancient Greek: ᾰ̓πορῐ́ᾱ, romanised, aporíā, lit. ‘impasse’, ‘difficulty in passage’, ‘lack of resources’, ‘puzzlement’) is a puzzle or state of puzzlement; in rhetoric, it is a declaration of doubt, made for rhetorical purpose and often feigned; definitions of the term “aporia” have varied throughout history; the Oxford English Dictionary includes two forms of the word: the adjective “aporetic”, which it defines as ‘to be at a loss’, ‘impassable’, and ‘inclined to doubt, or to raise objections’; and the noun form “aporia”, which it defines as the ‘state of the aporetic’ and ‘a perplexity or difficulty’; the dictionary entry also includes two early textual uses, which both refer to the term’s rhetorical (rather than philosophical) usage; (...); in philosophy, an aporia is a philosophical puzzle or a seemingly insoluble impasse in an inquiry, often arising as a result of equally plausible yet inconsistent premises (i.e. a paradox); it can also denote the state of being perplexed, or at a loss, at such a puzzle or impasse; the notion of an aporia is principally found in Greek philosophy, but it also plays a role in post-structuralist philosophy, as in the writings of Jacques Derrida and Luce Irigaray, and it has also served as an instrument of investigation in analytic philosophy. ~ (2023 Wikipedia Encyclopaedia).

• aporia: a term used by ancient Greek philosophers to designate problems which were difficult or impossible to solve. These problems are most frequently connected with contradictions which exist between the facts of observation and experience, on the one hand, and attempts to analyse them intellectually, on the other hand. The most well-known aporias originated with Zeno of Elea, who lived in the fifth century B.C. They are expounded in various later redactions which are often mutually contradictory, since the authentic arguments of Zeno himself have not been preserved. (...elided...). This contradiction poses the question of the correctness of the representation of the concepts of space, time, and motion by means of mathematical abstractions such as point and segment as well as the disputable nature of various abstractions about infinity. (...elided...). Not a single one of the solutions proposed to resolve the contradictions of aporias can, at the present time, be considered universally accepted. The problems connected with aporias continue to be discussed intensively; included in this are the works of Soviet scholars. The influence of Zeno’s aporias can be clearly traced, for example, in the theses of ancient scepticism and in Immanuel Kant’s so-called antinomies of pure reason. In general, the analysis of aporias, which are a kind of negative expression of the dialectics of the interrelationship between the real world and its reflection in thought, has had an important effect on the subsequent development of logic and the theory of knowledge. ~ (The Great Soviet Encyclopaedia, 3rd Edition; 1970-1979).

Apposition:

• apposition (n.): 1. grammar: (a.) construction in which a noun or noun phrase is placed with another as an explanatory equivalent, both having the same syntactic relation to the other elements in the sentence; for example, ‘Copley’ and ‘the painter’ in “The painter Copley was born in Boston”; (b.) the relationship between such nouns or noun phrases. 2. a placing side by side or next to each other. 3. biology [...]; (adj.): appositional; (adv.): appositionally. [Middle English apposicioun, from Latin appositiō, appositiōn-, from appositus, past participle of appōnere, ‘to put near’; from ad- + pōnere, ‘to put’]. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary).

• apposition (n.): 1. the act of placing together or bringing into proximity; 2. the addition of one thing to another thing; 3. a grammatical relation between expressions, usu. consecutive, that have the same referent and the same relation to other elements in the sentence; (adj.): appositional; (adv.): appositionally. [1400-50; late Middle English from Late Latin appositiō]. ~ (Webster’s College Dictionary).

• apposition (n.): 1. a grammatical relation between a word and a noun phrase that follows; [e.g.]: “‘Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer’ is an example of apposition”; 2. limiting, qualifying, modifying: the grammatical relation that exists when a word qualifies the meaning of the phrase; (a.) limiting: strictly limiting the reference of a modified word or phrase; [e.g.]: “the restrictive clause in ‘Each made a list of the books that had influenced him’ limits the books on the list to only those particular ones defined by the clause”; (b.) modification: the grammatical relation that exists when a word qualifies the meaning of the phrase; (c.) restrictiveness: a grammatical qualification that makes the meaning more specific (‘red hat’ has a more specific meaning than ‘hat’). ~ (Princeton’s WordNet 3.0).

• apposition (n.): 1. the act of adding to or together; a setting to; application; a placing together; juxtaposition; [e.g.]: “The apposition of new matter”. (John Arbuthnot, “Choice of Ailments”; 1756); “Placing in apposition the two ends of a divided nerve does not re-establish nervous communication”. (Herbert Spencer, 1820-1903, “Principles of Psychology”, 25);

2. (in grammar): (a) the relation to a noun (or pronoun) of another noun, or in some cases of an adjective or a clause, that is added to it by way of explanation or characterisation. Thus, “Cicero, the famous orator, lived in the first century before Christ”; “On him, their second Providence, they hung”. In languages that distinguish cases, the noun in apposition is in the same case as the word to which it is apposed. The same term is also used of an adjective that stands to the noun (or pronoun) to which it refers in a less close relation than the proper attributive, being added rather parenthetically, or by way of substitute for a qualifying clause. Thus, “They sang Darius, great and good”; “Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again”. Rarely, it is applied to a clause, whether substantive or adjective, that qualifies a noun (or pronoun) in an equivalent manner. Compare attributive and predicative;

(b) the relation of two or more nouns (or a noun and pronoun) in the same construction, under the above conditions. “Knights Templars”, “lords justices”, “Paul the apostle”, “my son John’s book” (where son is also possessive, the sign of the possessive case being required only with the final term), are examples of nouns in apposition; “I Jesus have sent mine angel” (Rev. xxii. 16) is an example of a pronoun and noun in apposition;

3† (in rhetoric): the addition of a parallel word or phrase by way of explanation or illustration of another. (N. E. D.); growth by apposition (in botany): growth in thickness by the repeated formation of laminae, as of cellulose in the thickening of cell-walls and of starch in the increase of starch-granules. [= French apposition = Provinçal appozicio = Spanish apposicion = Portuguese apposição = Italian apposizione, from Late Latin appositio(n-), adpositio(n-), ‘a placing by or near’, ‘setting before’, ‘application’, from Latin apponere, pp. appositus; see appose¹, apposite]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia).

• appositional (adj.): 1. pertaining to apposition, especially grammatical apposition; 2. (in botany): lying together and partly uniting so as to appear like a compound branch: applied to the branches of algae. [from apposition + -al]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia).

• appositionally (adv.): in apposition; in an appositional way. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia).

• appositive (adj. and n.): I. (adj.): 1. apposite; applicable; 2. (grammar): placed in apposition; standing over against its subject in the construction of the sentence; [e.g.]: “Appositive to the words going immediately before”. (Sir Norton Knatchbull, 1602-1685, “Animadversiones in libros Novi Testamenti”, p. 42); II. (n.) (in grammar): a word in apposition. [= French appositif, from Latin as if *appositivus, from appositus; see apposite]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia).

Appreciation:

Appreciation (n.): assessment of the true worth or value of persons or things; (n.): appreciator. [C17: from Medieval Latin appretiāre, ‘to value, prize’, from Latin pretium, ‘price’]. ~ (Collins English Dictionary).

Appreciation (n.): clear perception or recognition, esp. of historic importance and aesthetic quality; [e.g.]: “a course in art appreciation”; (adj.): appreciational, appreciatory; (adv.): appreciatingly; (n.): appreciator. [1600-10; from Late Latin appretiātus, past participle of appretiāre, ‘to value, prize’, from Latin pretium, ‘price’]. ~ (Webster’s College Dictionary).

A Priori:

‘a priori: loosely presumptive(ly); without previous investigation; as far as one knows’. (Oxford Dictionary).

Argumentation/Argumentatious:

[Dictionary Definitions]:

• argumentation (n.): 1. the process of developing or presenting an argument; reasoning; 2. the premises and conclusion so set forth; 3. discussion; debate; disputation; 4. argument (def. 5; viz.: discourse intended to persuade); (adj.): *argumentatious*. [emphasis added]. ~ (Webster’s College Dictionary).

• argumentation (n.): 1. the process of developing or presenting an argument; reasoning; 2. discussion; debate; disputation; 3. a discussion dealing with a controversial point; 4. the setting forth of reasons together with the conclusion drawn from them; 5. the premises and conclusion so set forth; 6. argument (def. 5; viz.: an address or composition intended to convince or persuade; persuasive discourse); (adj.): *argumentatious*. [emphasis added]. ~ (Random House Dictionary).

Arguendo:

Arguendo (adv.): in the course of an argument; [e.g.]: “It may be assumed, arguendo, that Complainant’s domain name and the disputed domain name are confusingly similar”. [origin: Latin ‘for the sake of argument’; from argutare, frequentative of arguere, ‘make clear’, ‘make known’, ‘prove’, ‘declare’, ‘demonstrate’; from PIE √*arg-, ‘to shine’, ‘be white’, ‘bright’, ‘clear’; cf. Latin argentum, ‘silver’, ‘silver work’, ‘white money’]. ~ (Online Etymology Dictionary).

An Armchair Assertion:

• ‘armchair (as adj.): fig. theorising rather than participating; lacking or not involving first-hand experience’. (Oxford Dictionary).

Arrogant:

I am using the word ‘arrogant’ in its ‘unduly appropriating authority’ meaning here and not its more common ‘aggressively conceited or presumptuous; haughty, overbearing’ meaning. Oxford Dictionary

Asseverate:

• asseverate (tr.v.; asseverated, asseverating, asseverates): to declare seriously or positively; affirm; (n.): asseveration; (adj.): asseverative. [Latin assevērātus, past participle of assevērāre, ‘to declare’, ‘to do (something) earnestly’, from ad- + sevērus, ‘serious’, ‘severe’]. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary).

• asseverate (v.): state categorically; (synonyms): assert, maintain; insist, take a firm stand (be emphatic or resolute and refuse to budge); [e.g.]: “I must insist!”. ~ (Princeton’s WordNet 3.0).

Assistive:

• assistive (adj.): giving assistance; helpful (providing assistance or serving a useful function). ~ (Princeton’s WordNet 3.0).

• assistive (adj.): providing aid or assistance; specifically, designed or intended to assist disabled persons; as ‘assistive technology’; [e.g.]: “A number of apps won’t run correctly, either, including ones which attempt to integrate into the Windows shell, like cloud storage apps or assistive technologies”. (Tom Warren, “The Verge”, 16 Feb. 2023); (n.): assister (=‘one who assists’); (tr.v.): assist, assists, assisted, assisting. [first known use: 1771, in the meaning defined above; etymology: assist, from Middle English assisten, ‘to help, aid, give aid (to)’, from Anglo-French assister, from Latin assistō, assistere, ‘to take up a position near’, ‘stand by’, ‘stand by as a supporter or advocate’, from ad- (assimilated to as-) + sistere, ‘to cause to stand’, ‘assume a standing position’, ‘place’, ‘check’, ‘halt’ + -ive]. ~ (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).

• assist (v.; assisted, assisting, assists; tr.v.): to give help or support to, especially as a subordinate or supplement; aid; [e.g.]: “The clerk assisted the judge by looking up related precedents”; “Her breathing was assisted by a respirator”; (intr.v.): 1. to give aid or support; [e.g.]: “Who assisted during the operation?”; 2. to be present, as at a conference; [e.g.]: “Mr. Dick had regularly assisted at our councils, with a meditative and sage demeanour”. (Charles Dickens); (n.): 1. the act of giving aid; help; [e.g.]: “cleaned the garage with the assist of a friend”; 2. sports; (a.) a fielding and throwing of a baseball in such a way which enables a team-mate toput out a runner; (b.) a pass, as in basketball or ice hockey, which enables the receiver to score; 3. a mechanical device providing aid; (n.): assister. [Middle English assisten, from Old French assister, from Latin assistere, from ad- + sistere, ‘to stand’]. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary).

Attavism:

• The word atavism is derived from the Latin atavus—a great-great-great-grandfather or, more generally, an ancestor. In social sciences, atavism is the tendency of reversion. For example, people in the modern era reverting to the ways of thinking and acting of a former time. ~ (2017 Wikipedia Encyclopaedia).

• atavism (n.): a reappearance of an earlier characteristic; (adj.): atavistic: characteristic of an atavist; viz.: an organism which has the characteristics of a more primitive type of that organism; (adj.): *atavistically*. [emphasis added] ~ (Princeton’s WordNet 3.0).

Attentive:

‘attentive’: Steadily applying one’s mind or energies; intent, heedful, assiduously alert, aware, watchful. Thus: ‘attentiveness’ (n.): the quality of applying the mind, consideration, thought; also: ‘attentional’ (a.): of or pertaining to the mental faculty of attention, giving heed, noticing; and: ‘attentively’ (adv.); experiencing intently, heedfully, observantly. ~ Oxford Dictionary

Auctoritas Principis:

After the fall of the Republic, during the days of the Roman Empire, the Emperor had the title of princeps (“first citizen” of Rome) and held the *auctoritas principis* – the supreme moral authority – in conjunction with the imperium and potestas; the military, judiciary and administrative powers. That is to say, there is a non-committal to a separation of powers, some civil rights, constitutionalism, codified constitutional state and legalist concept of law. [emphasis added]. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auctoritas].

In ancient Rome, auctoritas referred to the general level of prestige a person had in Roman society, and, as a consequence, his standing, influence, and ability to rally support around his will. However auctoritas was not merely political; it had a numinous content and symbolised the mysterious “power of command” of heroic Roman figures. (...). After the fall of the Republic, during the days of the Roman Empire, the Emperor had the title of princeps (“first citizen” of Rome) and held the *auctoritas principis* – the supreme moral authority – in conjunction with the imperium and potestas; the military, judiciary and administrative powers. That is to say, there is a non-committal to a separation of powers, some civil rights, constitutionalism, codified constitutional state and legalist concept of law. The notion of auctoritas was often invoked by the papacy during the Middle Ages, in order to secure the temporal power of the Pope. Innocent III most famously invoked auctoritas in order to depose kings and emperors and to try to establish a papal theocracy. [emphasis added]. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auctoritas].

Authentic:

authentic (adj.): of undisputed origin or authorship; genuine [1300-50; Middle English autentik, from Old French autentique, from Late Latin authenticus, ‘coming from the author’, from Greek authentikos, from authentēs, ‘one who acts independently’; ‘author, master’, from: autos, ‘self’ + -hentēs, ‘doer’, ‘perpetrator’, ‘accomplisher’, ‘achiever’; akin to Attic Greek hanutein, ‘to accomplish’, variant of Greek anuein, ‘to complete’]. ~ (composite from several sources).

Autocentric:

• autocentric (adj.): centred in or upon the self; making or regarding oneself as the centre; ‎[e.g.]: “These remarks would seem to imply a shift for the nurse from autocentric controlling, to allocentric controlling, then to allocentric nurturing”. (page 333⁽*⁾ “Progress in Reversal Theory”, edited by M. J. Apter, J. H. Kerr, M. P. Cowles; Apr 1988, Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam); (n.): autocentrism (i.e., the quality of being autocentric; the tendency to use the internalised set of rules for one’s behaviour); (antonym): allocentric (i.e., concerned with the interests of others more than one’s own; community-minded). [etymology: auto-, from Greek, comb. form of autos, ‘self’ +‎ -centric, suffix forming adjectives having a centre as specified; e.g., geocentric, anthropocentric]. ~ (Wiktionary English Dictionary).

⁽*⁾ [https://books.google.com/?id=RtVjh1Pre88C&pg=PA333].

Automaton:

‘automaton (pl. -mata): a piece of mechanism with concealed motive power, esp. one simulating a living being; a robot’. (Oxford Dictionary).

Automorphic:

automorphic (adj.): framed or conceived after the pattern or form of one’s self; [e.g.]: “The conception which any one frames of another’s mind is inevitably more or less after the pattern of his own mind–is automorphic; and in proportion as the mind of which he has to frame a conception differs from his own, his automorphic interpretation is likely to be wide of the truth” (Herbert Spenser, ‘Study of Sociology’, p. 104)⁽*⁾; (adv.): automorphically; (n.): automorphism. [from Greek αὐτόμορφος, ‘self-formed, natural’ (taken as ‘formed upon one’s own self or pattern’); from αὐτός, ‘self’, + μορφῄ, ‘form’]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia).

⁽*⁾ [https://archive.org/stream/cu31924095654574#page/n121/mode/2up]

Automorphism:

automorphism: the ascription of one’s own characteristics to another. (Oxford Dictionary).

automorphism (n.): the projection of one’s own characteristics onto another person; (adj.): automorphic. ~ (Ologies & Isms Dictionary).

automorphism (n.): the practice of seeing others as having the same characteristics as oneself. ~ (Collins English Dictionary).

__________

• automorphic (â-tȱ-môr′ fik), a. [‹ Gr. αὐτόμορφος, self-formed, natural (taken as ‘formed upon one’s own self or pattern’), ‹ αὐτός, self, + μορφῄ, form]. Framed or conceived after the pattern or form of one’s self. “The conception which any one frames of another’s mind is inevitably more or less after the pattern of his own mind – is automorphic; and in proportion as the mind of which he has to frame a conception differs from his own, his automorphic interpretation is likely to be wide of the truth”. ~ (H. Spencer, Study of Sociol., p. 114). (The Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia).

• automorphically (â-tȱ-môr′ fi-käl-i), adv. “In an automorphic manner”. ~ (H. Spencer). (The Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia).

• automorphism (â-tȱ-môr′ fizm), n. [As automorph-ic + -ism]. The ascription of one’s own characteristics to another, or the habit of judging others or explaining their acts by means of analogies furnished by the knowledge of one’s self. (The Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia).

Autosuggestion:

autosuggestion (n.): the process by which a person induces self-acceptance of an opinion, belief, or plan of action; (v.): autosuggest; (n.): autosuggestibility; (adj.): autosuggestible, autosuggestive. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary).

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