apophasis

• “There is even a rhetorical figure of speech called apophasis (from the Greek word for "to deny"), in which the speaker stresses an idea by denying or negating it.”

  Joseph Romm: What's in a Name? If it's "No Child Left Behind," You Might be Surprised

• “This notion is so core to rhetoric that the ancient Greeks even had a figure of speech named for it -- apophasis, (from the Greek word for "to deny"), the figure of speech that emphasizes a point by pretending to deny it, that stresses an idea or image by negating it.”

  Joseph Romm: Obama's Self-Defeating Rhetoric

• “Unlike other spiritual traditions, including Gnosticism, Pantheism, and forms of Christian apophasis and via negativa, the Buddhist understanding of oneness does not rely on the monotheistic perception of a centrally located source or an indwelling force or principle that acts to create coherency.”

  Shelley's Golden Wind: Zen Harmonics in _A Defence of Poetry_ and 'Ode to the WestWind'

• “Sorry, but that sounds more like apophasis than explanation.”

  The Volokh Conspiracy » A Suggestion for Tea Partiers:

• “If you could could somehow mistake an explanation for apophasis, I will not bother to mention how impaired your interpretation is.”

  The Volokh Conspiracy » A Suggestion for Tea Partiers:

• “It's a learned literary-theological study that suggests not only do the great Russian's novels have a kenotic dimension (kenosis, roughly, is the spiritual emptying of one's will to become receptive to God) but also stresses what Russian Christianity inherited from the apophatic tradition (apophasis, roughly, is an inductive technique used by eastern Christians to demonstrate God's existence).”

  Cross purposes - Guardian

• “I feel like declaring a public war on this species of weak claim, which is just another instance of apophasis.”

  Steve Janke and dead, sodomized hookers? Hey, I'm just sayin'.

• “Because there are all kinds of lying--deliberate obfuscation, apophasis, appeals to emotion, etc.”

  Steve Janke and dead, sodomized hookers? Hey, I'm just sayin'.

• “In the example of apophasis, a statement in better faith would be to simply assert what one wants to directly and hopefully, back it up with evidence of some kind rather than imply it with plausible deniability built right in.”

  Steve Janke and dead, sodomized hookers? Hey, I'm just sayin'.

• “Thus, every assertion is either the affirmation kataphasis or the denial (apophasis) of a single predicate of a single subject.”

  Aristotle's Logic

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