Editing Ineffability

{{short description|Inability of an idea or feeling to be expressed with words}}
{{For|the notion from set theory|Ineffable cardinal}}
{{distinguish|Infallibility}}
{{One source|date=April 2023}}
'''Ineffability''' is the quality of something that surpasses the capacity of language to express it, often being in the form of a [[taboo]] or incomprehensible term.<ref name="stanford">{{cite encyclopedia|last2=Jones|first2=Richard|last1=Gellman|first1=Jerome|title=Mysticism: Ineffability|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mysticism/#Inef|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2022 Edition)|date=29 June 2022}}</ref> This property is commonly associated with [[philosophy]],<ref>Nikoletseas, M.M. (2014) "Parmenides in Apophatic Philosophy" {{isbn|978-1497532403}}</ref> [[theology]],  [[ontology|aspects of existence]], and similar concepts that are inherently "too great", complex or [[Abstraction|abstract]] to be communicated adequately.<ref>Nikoletseas, M.M. (2016) "Parmenides: The World as Modus Cogitandi: Third Edition" {{isbn|978-1518891205}}</ref> [[Logic|Illogical]] statements, principles, reasons and arguments may be considered intrinsically ineffable along with [[Logical possibility|impossibilities]], [[contradictions]] and [[paradoxes]].

An object, event or concept is ineffable if it cannot adequately be expressed by the use of natural language.<ref>Nikoletseas, M.M. (2014) "Parmenides in Apophatic Philosophy" {{isbn|978-1497532403}}</ref>

The term (Latin: ''ineffābilis'') is composed of the prefix ''in-'', meaning 'not', and adjective ''effābilis'', meaning 'capable of being expressed'. In Greek, ἄρρητος (α depritive + ῥητὸς) means 'what cannot or should not be spoken of'.

Terminology describing the nature of [[experience]] cannot be conveyed properly in dualistic [[symbol]]ic language; it is believed that this knowledge is only held by the individual from which it originates. [[Profanity]] and [[vulgarism]]s can easily and clearly be stated, but by those who believe they should not be said, they are considered ineffable. Thus, one method of describing something that is ineffable is by using [[apophasis]], i.e. describing what it is ''not'', rather than what it ''is''. An example is the name of [[God in Judaism]], written as [[YHWH]] but substituted with [[Adonai]] ("the Lord") or [[HaShem]] ("the name") when reading.

==In the Roman Catholic Church==
The ineffability about God is affirmed by the [[First Vatican Council]]'s apostolic constitution ''[[Dei Filius]]'':
{{quote|The holy Catholic Apostolic Roman Church believes and confesses that there is one true and living God, Creator and Lord of [[heaven]] and earth, almighty, eternal, immense, ''incomprehensible'', infinite in intelligence, in will, and in all perfection, who, as being one, sole, absolutely simple and immutable spiritual [[Ousia|substance]], is to be declared as really and essentially distinct from the world, of supreme beatitude in and from Himself, and ''ineffably exalted above all things which exist, or are conceivable, except Himself''.|[https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds2.v.ii.i.html Dei Filius], Chapter I}}

God's ineffability deals with His being [[Infinity (philosophy)#Augustine|infinite]], invisible and incomprehensible.

This [[dogma|dogmatic]] definition comes from a longtime tradition: [[Tertullian]], [[Athenagoras of Athens]], and [[Clement of Alexandria]] believed that ineffability is a property of God.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.scielo.org.ar/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1669-27212014000100003|author=Raúl Kerbs|title=Philosophical Assumptions of the Church Fathers God and Creation|volume=26|issue=2|ISSN=1669-2721|journal=Enfoques|date=June 1, 2014|access-date=January 25, 2025|archive-url=https://archive.today/20250125215020/https://web.archive.org/web/20200714172628/https://www.scielo.org.ar/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1669-27212014000100003|archive-date=January 25, 2025|OCLC=9523170712|url-status=live|publisher=[[SciELO]]}}. Quote: "For Athenagoras and Tertullian, God is the truly real, one, eternal or timeless, ineffable and impassible...If it is supposed that biblical texts and Greek sources have similar meaning, Clement described God as invisible, ineffable, inexpressible by human concepts, indivisible, infinite, bearing no figure, time, movement, place or name."</ref>

==See also==
{{wiktionary|effable|ineffable}}
* [[Atopy (philosophy)]]
* [[Apophatic theology|Apophatic (or "negative") theology]]
* [[Creator ineffabilis]] (Christian prayer)
* [[Ideasthesia]]
* [[Implicit knowledge]]
* [[Meaning (linguistics)]]
* [[True name]]
* [[Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus#Proposition 7|Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Religious philosophical concepts]]