Mikhail Epstein's definitions
slavior (to (en)slave + suffix ior, like in savior) Ð the prince of this world, the one who imitates the Savior and promises to save people but makes them slaves.
Outwardly the distinction between Savior and Slavior may be as subtle as one letter difference in their names.
For many old-believers, the Slavior is already here, in our very midst, and they refuse to serve this self-appointed sovereign.
For many old-believers, the Slavior is already here, in our very midst, and they refuse to serve this self-appointed sovereign.
by Mikhail Epstein November 2, 2003
Get the slavior mug.polypath n. ( Gr. polys, much, many + patheia, suffering) Ð a person with multiple disorders, such as neuropathy, myopathy, sociopathy, chronopathy, etc.
by Mikhail Epstein November 13, 2003
Get the polypath mug.foodnik n food + suffix nik Ð someone for whom food and eating are main joys of living and are full of sacral significance.
He invites me to cook together a dinner, but I will hardly meet his expectations. He is a real foodnik.
by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003
Get the foodnik mug.defriend smbd v , transitive de + friend; cf. befriend - to break off friendly relations (with smbd).
He defriended me a year after we met, with no reason or explanation. He just stopped calling, period.
I want to defriend you. Ð What's wrong? - I need something more than friendship from you. I need love.
I want to defriend you. Ð What's wrong? - I need something more than friendship from you. I need love.
by Mikhail Epstein November 2, 2003
Get the defriend mug.multividual n Latin multus, many + Latin individuus, indivisible Ð a multiple individual that embraces many selves and in a technological perspective can possess multiple bodies.
As early as 1970s, psychologists indicated the emergence of a proteic type of personality who combines the properties of different individuals. This is not a schizophrenically split personality, but the one rich in roles and selves, a multividual who cannot be confined to a single self.
The multiplicity of selves often reveals itself in the acts of inspiration and artistic creativity. Eventually these multiple selves will acquire not only symbolical and imaginative embodiments, like in theater, but also independent bodies. Like a bio-species is exemplified by a multiplicity of individuals, a multividual will become a psycho-species exemplified by various organisms. Such multividuals will reach across continents assuming various material guises and performing various social and professional roles, and simultaneously they will be aware of their unique destiny and moral responsibility.
The multiplicity of selves often reveals itself in the acts of inspiration and artistic creativity. Eventually these multiple selves will acquire not only symbolical and imaginative embodiments, like in theater, but also independent bodies. Like a bio-species is exemplified by a multiplicity of individuals, a multividual will become a psycho-species exemplified by various organisms. Such multividuals will reach across continents assuming various material guises and performing various social and professional roles, and simultaneously they will be aware of their unique destiny and moral responsibility.
by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003
Get the multividual mug.ambipathy n (Latin, Greek ambi- (or amphi), both, on both sides + Greek pathos, feeling) - a mixture of sympathy and antipathy, of attraction and repulsion; a condition of being torn apart by conflicting feelings and aspirations.
"... At once I hate and love as well," - this line by Catullus, Roman poet of the first century BC, is one of the first literary expressions of ambipathy.
Dmitry Karamazov in Dostoevsky says that "a man is too broad" and is equally attracted by the two abysses--the upper and the lower ones, the ideal of Madonna and the ideal of Sodom. In this sense, Dmitry and perhaps Dostoevsky himself are the brightest manifestations of this common trait of ambipathy.
Dmitry Karamazov in Dostoevsky says that "a man is too broad" and is equally attracted by the two abysses--the upper and the lower ones, the ideal of Madonna and the ideal of Sodom. In this sense, Dmitry and perhaps Dostoevsky himself are the brightest manifestations of this common trait of ambipathy.
by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003
Get the ambipathy mug.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. For example, Jacques Derrida never defines his method of deconstruction but only infines it in numerous passages. Infinition is for the humanities what for mathematics is a transcendental number with its "infinite decimal expansion" expressed by a non-periodic decimal fraction: an endless approximation to and escape from a discrete definition.
by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003
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