Words for highly specific but oddly relevant philosophical concepts

[SirKazum]

You know how there's often a really specific and obscure philosophical/aesthetic/cultural concept that you want to communicate and, instead of having to explain it all over again each time, you want to use a single word for that? And there often is such a word, but it's so obscure that most people are unaware of it, even though they understand the concept itself? (That word is usually in German :smalltongue: ) In fact, I suspect there's probably a snappy German or Greek word for what this thread is about. In any case, I often find myself wondering if there's a word for certain concepts, because they're oddly useful and applicable to daily life, so here's a thread for finding out if such words exist (and for you guys to post about long-winded concepts that deserve a one-word synonym). Here are a couple that come to mind:

1) An idea, often in the form of life advice (e.g. "don't sweat the small stuff"; "you never know what's really going on in someone else's life"; "talk is cheap") that sounds really obvious, and if you ask people about it, most will understand it just fine on a theoretical level; however, comprehending what that idea really entails in practical terms, much less actually living by that advice, is very difficult and rare, often a lifelong pursuit, and often requiring an epiphany to really understand what should've been obvious in the first place.

2) An objective (e.g. being cool, acting naturally, being in peace with oneself) that, the more you actively try to achieve it, the harder it becomes to achieve and the lower your chances of success, wherein the only way to really move toward that objective is to let go of it and not worry about achieving it, but making yourself more apt to reaching it without direct effort.

Any ideas on how to express the concepts above in a short, snappy way? Any other concepts you'd like to find a word for?

[Aedilred]

You know how there's often a really specific and obscure philosophical/aesthetic/cultural concept that you want to communicate and, instead of having to explain it all over again each time, you want to use a single word for that? And there often is such a word, but it's so obscure that most people are unaware of it, even though they understand the concept itself? (That word is usually in German :smalltongue: ) In fact, I suspect there's probably a snappy German or Greek word for what this thread is about. In any case, I often find myself wondering if there's a word for certain concepts, because they're oddly useful and applicable to daily life, so here's a thread for finding out if such words exist (and for you guys to post about long-winded concepts that deserve a one-word synonym). Here are a couple that come to mind:

1) An idea, often in the form of life advice (e.g. "don't sweat the small stuff"; "you never know what's really going on in someone else's life"; "talk is cheap") that sounds really obvious, and if you ask people about it, most will understand it just fine on a theoretical level; however, comprehending what that idea really entails in practical terms, much less actually living by that advice, is very difficult and rare, often a lifelong pursuit, and often requiring an epiphany to really understand what should've been obvious in the first place.

2) An objective (e.g. being cool, acting naturally, being in peace with oneself) that, the more you actively try to achieve it, the harder it becomes to achieve and the lower your chances of success, wherein the only way to really move toward that objective is to let go of it and not worry about achieving it, but making yourself more apt to reaching it without direct effort.

Any ideas on how to express the concepts above in a short, snappy way? Any other concepts you'd like to find a word for?
(2) sounds like the sort of thing the stoics and possibly the cynics must have discussed at some point. Apatheia and Ataraxia seem like they're bouncing around the rim without quite going in the net. I might term it an "aphormeic objective", in that it can only be achieved by aphorme (i.e. not acting towards it).

(1) Again, this sounds like something that should have been at least touched on by the empiricists (Berkeley, specifically) although I'm not sure what if anything they said about it. I want to use something along the lines of "superficial" or some variant on it ("transficial", "circaficial") to describe the level of comprehension but I can't quite put my finger on it.

[Luz]

1 - Sounds like Taoism. The go with the flow philosophy.
2 - Stoicism maybe?

[SirKazum]

(2) sounds like the sort of thing the stoics and possibly the cynics must have discussed at some point. Apatheia and Ataraxia seem like they're bouncing around the rim without quite going in the net. I might term it an "aphormeic objective", in that it can only be achieved by aphorme (i.e. not acting towards it).

(1) Again, this sounds like something that should have been at least touched on by the empiricists (Berkeley, specifically) although I'm not sure what if anything they said about it. I want to use something along the lines of "superficial" or some variant on it ("transficial", "circaficial") to describe the level of comprehension but I can't quite put my finger on it.

Good suggestions. I'll look into the definitions of apatheia and ataraxia, and into empiricist philosophy.


1 - Sounds like Taoism. The go with the flow philosophy.
2 - Stoicism maybe?

Actually, 2 is what really rings of Taoism to me, specifically the concept of wu wei (non-action). One possible neologism that came to my mind later yesterday about this is "Kung Wu" - riffing off "Kung Fu" (gong fu in Mandarin Chinese), "skilled effort", but replacing "fu" with "wu" for "nothingness" or "non-action", to mean skillfully priming yourself to effortlessly achieve something for which direct effort is counterproductive.

[Frozen_Feet]

As far as english goes, I prefer to call 1) "simple-but-difficult".

I've seen 2) called "effortlessness".

[orbispelagium]

#2 sounds like "social-status bull**** strikes again"; but more seriously, maybe "countersignaling" fits the bill? "I'm so good at this that I don't need to show off, so I'll act the opposite."

For some other concepts, I spend a lot of time thinking about political/cultural arguments that my opponents couldn't plausibly say with equal devotion. "No, [thing] really is that important and fundamental to a good society" sure doesn't cut it, but what does?

[Telonius]

#2 - "You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" is an idiom that's pretty close to it.

[SirKazum]

#2 - "You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" is an idiom that's pretty close to it.

Ehh, that sounds a bit like overemphasizing the social application of that concept. One analogy I've often seen employed is "chinese finger trap (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSnw-PHLUxY)", because when you get your fingers in that thing, the more you try to pull them apart, the tighter it holds them; you're supposed to (counter-intuitively) push into the trap, as that will make it wider, and release your fingers. That's more or less close to what I'm thinking of, except for the "working toward the opposite of your goal will help you achieve it" part, which isn't necessarily true for most situations where the concept applies.

[Luz]

Ehh, that sounds a bit like overemphasizing the social application of that concept. One analogy I've often seen employed is "chinese finger trap (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSnw-PHLUxY)", because when you get your fingers in that thing, the more you try to pull them apart, the tighter it holds them; you're supposed to (counter-intuitively) push into the trap, as that will make it wider, and release your fingers. That's more or less close to what I'm thinking of, except for the "working toward the opposite of your goal will help you achieve it" part, which isn't necessarily true for most situations where the concept applies.

I think that's not a real thing. Since life doesn't work like that.

[SirKazum]

I think that's not a real thing. Since life doesn't work like that.

Sometimes it does, though. The literal Chinese finger trap being a trivial example :smalltongue: Another arguable example is "finding a boy/girlfriend" - you often succeed only when you decide you're better off alone. But that's getting away from the point of the thread, which is finding words for things :smallbiggrin:

[Jormengand]

But that's getting away from the point of the thread, which is finding words for things :smallbiggrin:

But surely, if you stop trying to find words for things, that's the best way to find words for things? :smalltongue:

[TaiLiu]

If we're just sharing philosophical words, "supererogatory" can be used to describe actions that are morally good but not morally required.

[SirKazum]

If we're just sharing philosophical words, "supererogatory" can be used to describe actions that are morally good but not morally required.

Didn't know that one. Cool word!

[Lawful Good]

but surely, if you stop trying to find words for things, that's the best way to find words for things? :smalltongue:

threadception

[FallenFallcrest]

The first thing is called a truism, things that are widely stated, with some intended meaning, but usually are not directly useful. Distinct from most idioms, which are just colorful non-literal expressions in general. (but aren't metaphors or similes or analogies, which are all different.).

I don't really know a word for the second concept. Chinese-Finger Trap would be good. The movie Wargames has a great line in it that sort of applies to that concept: "What a strange game. The only winning move is not to play."