Atopy (philosophy)
Impracticality of being assimilated to a topic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Atopy (Greek ατοπία, atopía; Socrates has often been called "átopos")[1]: 11–19 is a concept describing the ineffability of things or emotions that are rarely experienced, which are outstanding and original in the strict sense. It is a certain quality (of experience) that can be observed within oneself or within others, differing from the ideal quality which is conceptualized, not experienced.[1]: 142–151
History
Roland Barthes
French literary theorist Roland Barthes discussed and reevaluated the concept of atopy numerous times in his work. In A Lover's Discourse: Fragments, Barthes defined it as "unclassifiable, of a ceaselessly unforeseen originality", referring to the circumstance, an atopia, in which atopy is intercommunicated in interest and love.[2] Previously, in The Pleasure of the Text, he regarded pleasure itself as atopic,[3] saying that "the pleasure of the text is scandalous: not because it is immoral but because it is atopic."[4]
