aporia

Meanings

1. An expression of deliberation with oneself regarding uncertainty or doubt as to how to proceed.
2. An apparently insoluble contradiction or tension, especially in a text's meaning; a logical impasse suggested by a text or speaker; a paradox.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin aporia, from Ancient Greek ἀπορία (aporía), from ἄπορος (áporos, “impassable”), from ἀ- (a-, “a-”) + πόρος (póros, “passage”). By surface analysis, a- + pore + -ia.