Ineffability

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.^[1] This property is commonly associated with philosophy,^[2] theology, aspects of existence, and similar concepts that are inherently "too great", complex or abstract to be communicated adequately.^[3] Illogical statements, principles, reasons and arguments may be considered intrinsically ineffable along with impossibilities, contradictions and paradoxes.

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An object, event or concept is ineffable if it cannot adequately be expressed by the use of natural language.^[4]

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 symbolic language; it is believed that this knowledge is only held by the individual from which it originates. Profanity and vulgarisms 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:

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 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.
— Dei Filius, Chapter I

God's ineffability deals with His being infinite, invisible and incomprehensible.

This dogmatic definition comes from a longtime tradition: Tertullian, Athenagoras of Athens, and Clement of Alexandria believed that ineffability is a property of God.^[5]

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In the Roman Catholic Church

See also

References

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