Aporia

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The use of "aporia" in the context of Cynefin is influenced by Derrida's “possible-impossible aporias” – aporia is a Greek word meaning impasse, so indirectly puzzle or unanswerable uncertainty, but it has come to refer to a paradox. Derrida described paradoxes that affect issues like giving, hospitality, forgiving and mourning. He argues that according to their internal logic, notions like these are only made possible through their impossibility. - Jacques Derrida (1930—2004)

His purist definitions led to the idea that if something has worked before, exploiting it was not a decision but just an application, it is programming. You only are forced/required to make decisions where you don't have an obvious solution. The need for leaders to be able to contemplate Aporia (the state) is critical as they are rarely exploiting prior solutions in a time of crisis but are truly making decisions (see Zhen's blog post). As Derrida says, borrowing the words of Kierkegaard

"the instant of a decision is a madness"

The idea that the former Cynefin domain of Disorder encompasses Derrida’s idea of Aporia first came from John van Breda. Derrida appears to have meant aporia to encourage the deliberate seeking out of contradiction and what it reveals, rather than trying to avoid it or trying to enforce contradictions into neat classification or solution. This interpretation harks back to the original Greek use of the term and not strictly Derrida's meaning of an impasse or paradox. In Cynefin this led to the reframing of disorder as either Aporetic (aporia being the noun form and therefore the state) or Confused and allowing for embracing of this state. Confused here embodies the inauthentic aspect of that central domain of Cynefin, where the decision-maker assumes they are in one context while they are actually in another. This contrasts to the deliberate suspension in uncertainty that aporia entails. Moving items that are in the central domain is done through the recognition that this state has validity and this has lead to the definition of the Aporetic Turn, which defines helpful ways of transitioning through the Aporetic to other domains. This can lead to, among other states, messy coherence, another corner stone of Cynefin.

It should be noted that the idea of dealing with contradictory ideas is something that many others in philosophy and art have also considered. These include, among others, Aristotle's idea of the golden mean, Kierkergaard's either/or and Lupasco. One of the more notable examples is Fitzgerald's (see quote at the top of the page).

Creating aporia

A lot of the methodological and practical applications of aporia, beyond the Aporetic Turn focus on the deliberate creation or triggering of that state. The main approaches to doing that are divided to the three classes presented below.

Linguistic Aporia

Language is primary in the creation of aporia through its intimate relationship with perception; language gives us the lens through which we understand things, and by changing or manipulating it we can change the kind or range of things we perceive.

The induction of the aporetic state happens through the deliberate creation of confusion and a certain degree of forcing novelty. This can take the following forms:

  1. Neologisms: the creation of a new word, usually out of familiar elements, for example the term "McJob".
  2. Foreign words: the use of words from a different language to indicate a precise and unfamiliar term. "Cynefin" itself, is of course an example.
  3. Paradoxes: Impossible statements that force a change in perspective, such as "I know one thing, that I know nothing".
  4. Metaphors: Description of one thing in terms of (or through) another.
  5. Counterfactuals: An alternative future or situation that never was. For example, imagining the world if WWII had never happened.
  6. Poetry: Poetry is practically a way of condensing all aspects of linguistic aporia in a highly effective and affecting form, and everyone has their favourite examples.
  7. Quotations: The combination of (usually) brevity, authority, and the successful expression of something that is difficult to express makes quotes highly effective.

Aesthetic Aporia

In this context, "aesthetic" is used in its broader sense to encompass elements from symbolic and material approaches that are not physical or language-related. Here, each sub-category is in itself divided into several possible approaches or applications.

  1. Use of artists to create material: Cartoons or illustrations can be used to get a point effectively across in a metaphorical way without reducing its complexity. Fine art, whether paintings or photographs can transmit understanding and sensation in a non-linguistic way. Finally, humour and satire also find their place here by allowing accurate, gentle, and biting commentary.
  2. Real-time performance: More intensive applications of this approach can involve, for example, the hiring of improvisational actors to represent fictional (but familiar) situations, but there are lower cost approaches. True graphic facilitation is a kind of performance and reveals different perspectives and possibilities, while simulation games allow safe experimentation and encourage innovation. Finally, music can be equally effective at engaging different modes or perception and revealing insights.
  3. Learning through art: people can use the creating of art or design, which can be as simple as the framing or choice of subject of a picture, to express themselves. An alternative to that is giving people access to a trained artist who they can direct, although personal involvement can have its benefits. Finally, there are also standardised methods involving archetypes that belong to this category.

Physical Aporia

Given the embodied and enacted aspect of cognition, its physicality and reliance on interaction with the world, it is unsurprising that physical interaction with the world is a very effective way of shifting perspectives and creating aporia. Movement, such as walking, and activities that involve working with your hands can fall under this class. Because of the enormity of the potential space for action here, the list of sub-categories below includes broader principles rather that specific techniques or activities.

  1. The human essential of movement: To put it bluntly, we are a species that was shaped by walking from place to place, not by sitting in front of a screen. Creating opportunities for people to include movement in their daily lives, as well as creating space for it in events, indirectly creates the circumstances that make shifts in perspective possible.
  2. The reflection conundrum: The conundrum here expresses the fact that, although reflective practices are essential, these cannot happen on demand and on a facilitator's schedule, or be forced on people.
  3. The occasional radical intervention: Dave Snowden calls this "the short sharp shock" and it should be applied with great caution and ethical awareness, although there are gentler and less sharp ways; for example by taking people out of their ordinary context for a brief period of time, without creating conditions that are unsettling or dangerous.

Method card material

This material will be extracted for the method cards

Possible symbols or illustrations

Front page description

In the Cynefin framework, Aporia refers to an aspect of the framework’s central domain, often the starting point for sense-making.

Back of card summary

The use of the Greek word “aporia” comes from Derrida’s application of the term to describe a paradoxical or unanswerable question that forces you to think differently. In the Cynefin framework, the central aporetic domain is often the starting point for sense-making. The legitimate, exploratory, and deliberate transition out of that domain and into another is known as the aporetic turn. Aporia can be deliberately created and triggered in three main ways: linguistic, aesthetic, and physical. All three are used to trigger states of suspension in ambiguity through deliberate confusion, so more possibilities can emerge or become visible and to enable different ways of thinking.

How can it be used?

for diagnosis

for analysis/understanding

for intervention

Method Properties - Ratings

Represented by symbols - interpretation/voting scales are:

References

Articles

Blog Posts

Videos

  • Dave Snowden, Professor Dave Snowden (00:22:13), University of South Australia YouTube Channel (Sep 5 2022), focus on the origin of the concept and on the ways of deliberately generating aporia

Related Concepts

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