> Is the word porism related to the word aporia? An aporia (or is that form
> plural only?) appears to be a difficulty left unresolved by a particular
> philosophy, and frequently the starting point of another philosophy--as
> some of Plato's philosophy is often considered to be a response to aporia
> in the philosophy of Parmenides.
>
> I assume the "a" in aporia means "not," so a correct understanding of
Right. The a- [called a)/lfa sterhtiko/n, in Greek] means "not" [or "non-",
as it is always used in composition (not as a single word, like the English
"not")]
> aporia could illuminate the meaning of porism. Antreas gave the root, but
> declined to discuss the meaning. Maybe if we beg, we can pry it out of him.
To be honest I am not familiar with the Greek (neither anyone else) philosophy,
so let me discuss on Grammar/etymology only.
PORISM comes from the Greek Po/risma (neuter; gen.: Pori/smatos; Plural:
Pori/smata). The etymological steps:
Po/ros [masc.; noun] > Pori/zw [verb] > Po/risma [meuter; noun]
APORIA comes also from the Greek A)pori/a [femin.; noun]
Etymology: A- + Po/ros > A)/poros [adj.] > A)pori/a [noun]
(If we want to go further, then Po/ros comes from the verb perw=, and
the IE root is por- cf. Hannibal ..... [you know the rest :-)]
The Liddell-Scott (LS) Dictionary gives too many meanings (quoting ancient
writers).
Anyway, I see a reference to Plato, where po/ros is the opposite of a)pori/a:
... te/xnas te kai\ po/rous ... (Meno 78D)
Here the meaning is: po/ros = invention.
As for the Po/risma: LSK [it is the Greek edition of the LS] refers to Pappus,
and interprets it as: To\ e)cago/menon e)k prote/ras a)podei/cews =
Which is deduced from a prior proof.
Antreas