a list of aporia I generalise into the… —gap

This is in prep for an index of gap-fillers. [See Posts on the… —gap.]

So, “the… —gap” is a term that refers to not knowing, but still wanting to do something because something should be done!

This is an urge we have, to find shelter and food and ways to negotiate that work and resources with others. Gap-filling is an outcome not a source. (I am hoping the punctuated term indicates this context.)

So I use “the… —gap” as a notice where/when peeps recognise a failing or gap in knowledge, or systems remaining incomplete… —despite attempts, or because of them, at coherency or fascist intervention, or circumlocution:

Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tends to be the difficult ones. 
One of Donald Rumsfeld’s more lucid moments.

Pyrrho

The general philosophical, or at least, Ancient Greek term used nowadays for “the… —gap” is ᾰ̓πορῐ́ᾱ latinized as aporia. It’s an animal term, assuming a body, though these days we may assume the metaphor is architectural in origin, as it means “without passage” or “no way through/across”. (Note to self: never get hung up on prepositions).

Your way is thwarted.

It is an important moment of attitude in (neo-)Pyrrhonist discussions, that where one cannot decide or discover or in simply recognising one’s own limits in knowing/feeling/intuiting/living about stuff in the world around us, and within, one self-regulates with a suspension of judgement (epoché), such that one does not rashly throw stuff into the… —gap. For that is likely dogma, re-intensified doctrine, or stuff like judgements, pompous assents, or wish-fulfilments/attachments.

In Pyrrhonist thought this suspension is held in mind, which then brings one to ataraxia, something akin to calming relief.

Though I suspect it actually requires such a state to employ the suspension in the first place (a virtuous circle?) The ‘reward’ eudaimonia may actually be how you get there, and not the destination itself. At least, once one has practiced it, and has a muscle memory of it. (This would be a harder sell to anxious peeps.)

And once reached, it can always then be perturbed.

These Pyrrhonist discussions I first dug deep into only about a year ago. Quite a while after I had started using the punctuated term of “the… —gap”. And the blur. So I often use that Pyrrhonist framing now but it began before my access to that vocabulary.

When I started noticing what people throw into the gap, I wondered why. Everything and anything could be thrown in, both wanted and rejected things. It was like a landfill and a treasure house. (Subject of future post listing such activities.)[Not yet started as at October 2025].

Is it just because they do not know what they are doing? No, they can know they don’t know, but they throw stuff in anyway. In some twisted varieties they pretend to not know so they can thrown stuff into the gap, i.e. that noting is something, and which is no where, that does not exist and thus cannot be thrown. They do it anyway.

See FUD (Fear, uncertainty, and doubt).

Pyrrhonism is an originary skepticism, with an emphasis on an inquiring mind. The later skepticisms often become dogmatic or ritualistical lazy in saying one cannot know anything, but this is rashly throwing nihilism into the gap. Thus us has been usually raised as a swear word condemning someone, and in contrast to the preferred thing one wants to throw into the gap, because meaning.

We feel we should thrown stuff into the gap, you see. We often argue about what. Something should be thrown because something should be done, that’s why we should.

We have whole complex industries and institutions throwing stuff into the gap in large measure to control the avenues of power, where the state/empire/religion is seen as the sum total of the world. This is perhaps a rash mistake.

[See also Bias & Duḥkha listed under Posts on selfing / agency / individuation.]

Incompleteness

Decades ago I was introduced to Gödel’s incompleteness theorems by way of Douglas R. Hofstader’s book Gödel, Escher, Bach.

Recently I’ve shared a 20 year old interview which reminded me Kurt Gödel found these systemic gaps in systemic thought because of a distaste for mathematical formalism’s claims. Based on an intuition about intuition, arising in a preference for Platonic-ish ideals. I.E. what Kurt preferred to chuck into the gap. Or over.

This is from a guy who asked others to open his mail because he was paranoid enough believe that that peeps were trying to kill him, maybe with poison gas. Apparently if the helpers died from the gas that was okay. Or maybe they just opened it after it piled up for a while regardless. (I am seeking confirmation on this anecdote). The paranoia is well documented.

This is what I mean by maybe one has to perhaps begin in eudaimoniacal ataraxia, in a good place, or access to it in a memory (a happy infancy) before one can reach epoché.

Maybe in enlightenment our attachment to the hindsight of (our) “success”, perturbs our understanding.

Anyway, if you are already there, say, how can you help those headed the other way?

Bridges

Throwing stuff into the gap is a crude way to fix stuff. Especially if it is bottomless.

So sometimes we arc up and build a structure to maintain us in a leap over the gap.

These metaphors too can be perturbed.

And, of course, sometimes the perturbations provide a way.

First posted on substack.com in January 2024.