Definition:

A rhetorical term for an expression of uncertainty about what to say or what course of action to take. Similar to aporia and dubitatio.

Diaporesis is usually characterized as "pretended doubt" or "feigned hesitation," and it often takes the form of a question or a series of questions.

The Roman rhetorician Quintilian observed that diaporesis "lends the impression of truth and sincerity to one's reflections as one shows one's humanity" (Ben Witherington, Paul's Letter to the Philippians, 2011).

See Examples and Observations, below.

See also:

• Aposiopesis
• Dissoi Logoi
• Dubitatio
• Elenchus
• Rhetoric
• Socratic Dialogue
• What Is Aporia?

Etymology:
From the Greek, "doubting, perplexity

Examples and Observations:

• "Many will claim they know Phyllis Wheatley, but only I can relate the authentic narrative of my past life. But where shall I begin? With my despair or with my triumph? Do I start with my life as an African child? Or my sufferings on the slave ship? Shall I begin with describing the first time I wrote a complete poem and tell of the sweet joy that flowed through my body?
  
  "No. I shall begin with what I see shimmering in front of me: Lady Huntingdon's grand reception room in London, England. I am transported on the wings of Aurora, the goddess of the dawn. The date is 30 June, the year 1773. I am nineteen years old."
  (Afua Cooper, My Name is Phillis Wheatley: A Story of Slavery and Freedom. Kids Can Press, 2009)
• "With regard to the Charleston riot, I hardly know what to say or whether to say anything, but will venture to say if the reports that I have got are true, that every man engaged in the assault upon the soldiers is a traitor and ought to be hung as a criminal in the double capacity of murderer and traitor."
  (Letter of Corporal Benjamin ["Webb"] Baker to his mother, April 20, 1864. Testament: A Soldier's Story of the Civil War by Benson Bobrick. Simon & Schuster, 2003)

• "The traditional doctrine of the imputation of responsibility refers to effects or damages already known, already produced, already denounced. Today we know that this is not enough, but where can we go from here? And for how long? Finally, how can we speak of reparation or retribution when no reciprocity exists between those who produce the action (ourselves) and those who suffer the damage (future generations)?
  
  "These questions need not invalidate the point of departure or the underlying intuition. But a lack of persuasive answers would weaken the Principle of Responsibility."
  (Reyes Mate, Memory of the West: The Contemporaneity of Forgotten Jewish Thinkers. Rodopi, 2004)
• Diaporesis in the Exordium
  "[T]his device [diaporesis] was common at or near the beginning of a rhetorical discourse. For instance, in Demosthenese' treatment of stock exordia he says that this is a stock way to begin the discussion (Exordium 19). Interestingly, Antiphon (Tetralogy 4.1-2) brings up the subject of deliverance in this figure of thought: 'I am at a loss to know where else I might flee for deliverance.' But the most telling example [N.C.] Croy brings forth is from Isocrates On the Peace 38-39, where Isocrates first says that he is at a loss which to choose, but in the end he concludes that he needs to be more concerned with the public good than with his own reputation or safety. . . ."
  
  "As Croy concludes, 'Isocrates' dilemma is rhetorical. He fully intends to speak and not be silent. But by framing the choices as he does, he shows that what he intends to do is unquestionably the more noble and civic minded choice.'"
  (Ben Witherington III, Paul's Letter to the Philippians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2011)
• Martianus Capella on Diaporesis in the Courtroom
  "Diaporesis, or hesitation, is a figure we use when, as if hesitating, we ask of the jurors themselves advice on how to begin, as in the Pro Cluentio [by Cicero]: 'Gentlemen, I do not know where to turn'; or in the Pro Cornelio: 'Am I to fight against the wishes of our leading men? Am I to reveal their interests, their plans, their thoughts?' and so on."
  (Martianus Capella and the Seven Liberal Arts: The Marriage of Philology and Mercury, ed. by William Harris Stahl with E.L. Burge. Columbia University Press, 1977)
• Hermogenes on Creating the Impression of Spontaneity
  "[S]eemingly spontaneous outbursts must be introduced without transition or preparation, so that they will not appear to have been prepared in advance. Figures of speech such as apostrophe, diaporesis, correctio, parentheses, and unfinished enumerations . . . give the impression that the orator is speaking spontaneously; and short clauses and uneven rhythms, which Hermogenes has also associated with Vehemence, can be used to convey the orator's emotion."
  (Cecil W. Wooten, Introduction to Hermogenes' on Types of Style. The University of North Carolina Press, 1987)

 

Pronunciation: di-a-po-REE-sis