Marcin: Created page with "Something that is ambiguous but that appears profound. From Creativity Pumps A “deepity” is a proposition that seems both important and true–and profound–but that..."

2024-06-09T23:26:59Z

Created page with "Something that is ambiguous but that appears profound. From Creativity Pumps A “deepity” is a proposition that seems both important and true–and profound–but that..."

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Something that is ambiguous but that appears profound. From [[Creativity Pumps]]

A “deepity” is a proposition that seems both important and true–and profound–but that achieves this effect by being ambiguous. On one reading it is manifestly false, but it would be earth-shaking if it were true; on the other reading it is true but trivial. The unwary listener picks up on the glimmer of truth from the second reading, and the devastating importance from the first reading, and thinks, Wow! That’s a deepity.

Here is an example. (Better sit down: this is heavy stuff.)

Love is just a word.

[…]

Richard Dawkins recently alerted me to a fine deepity by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who described his faith as a “silent waiting on the truth, pure sitting and breathing in the presence of a question mark.”

Deepity - Revision history

Marcin: Created page with "Something that is ambiguous but that appears profound. From Creativity Pumps A “deepity” is a proposition that seems both important and true–and profound–but that..."