Mikhail Epstein's definitions

amort (amor + mort)

amort n. (Lat. amor, love + Lat. mort, death)

the double instinct of love and death; the ambivalent combination of Eros and Thanatos or the transformation of one into another; a cruel and (self)destructive passion that leads to the ruin of the loved or the lover.

Amort is the most common theme of European literature, from Tristan and Isolde to The Ballad of Reading Gaol:

And all men kill the thing they love,
By all let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!

by Mikhail Epstein November 15, 2003

transvert

transvert n Lat. trans, across, over + vertere, to turn; cf. intravert, extravert - a psychological type that alternates between introversion and extraversion and combines features of both types.

I don't know who I am, an extravert or an introvert? Or am I a transvert? If so, then the entire classification crumbles.

His life moves from one extreme to another, from complete self-absorption to wild partying at random places with random people. He is a typical transvert.

by Mikhail Epstein November 2, 2003

infinition

infinition (definition + infinitity) Ð an infinite process of defining something that cannot be fully or precisely defined; an endless list of possible definitions.

Certain fluid concepts in their emergent state are subject to in-finition--infinite dispersal of their meaning--rather than to definition. To infine is to suggest the infinity of possible definitions of a certain term or concept and therefore to problematize its meaning and the possibility or the benefit of defining it. If definition circumscribes a specific conceptual area, then infinition releases the concept from restricting demarcations and places it in an indeterminate zone.

by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003

thanatagog

thanatagog or thanatagogue (Greek thanatos, death + Greek agein, to lead; cf. pedagog, demagog, mystagog) - one who prepares old or terminally ill people for dying.

He is a thanatagog by vocation and occupation. He works at a hospice.

by Mikhail Epstein November 7, 2003

meetnik (meet + suffix nik)

a person who enjoys meetings and all sorts of administrative events and tries to attend as many of them as possible.

Being socially active is one thing, meeting for the sake of meeting is another. I try to stay away from meetniks for whom getting together is an end in itself. Meeting without meaning is worse than meaning without meeting.

by Mikhail Epstein October 2, 2003

EGG

abbreviation for Electronically Generated Groups, such as smart mobs
or bookcrossing communities, that use the web to ferment their social
bonds in real space and time.

These EGGs are indeed the eggs of new, trans-electronic sociality.

Do you participate in any EGG? - Yes, I am a seasoned egger.

by Mikhail Epstein October 2, 2003

inventurer

inventurer n (invention+adventurer) - adventurer of thinking, seeker of intellectual adventures.

Inventurers know how much they donÕt know; like Socrates and Kant, they start their journey with the confessed Òignorance.Ó

by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003