Aporia

When supervisor#2 to me last week that perhaps I was being too perfectionist in discarding possibilities, that he was being kind. Perhaps I am suffering from aporia. Do you know this term? I think this pertains to my lack of philosophical rhetoric. Apparently, aporia means:

"a state of puzzlement resulting from philosophical objections to proposed courses of action whilst simultaneously lacking any alternative solution." [1]

But Wikipedia also says it is an expression of doubt. I came across it in the context of performance appraisal, which is either “lauded” as central to organisational effectiveness or “denigrated” as a ritual. I suppose the state arises from such conundrums or dilemmas.

I suspect aporia applies in some way to accountability and might also relate to stakeholders and contracts. Supervisor#1 mentioned relational contracts. Contracts are usually thought of as legalistic and there are psychological contracts. Perhaps analysis of legalistic and relational contracts would reveal some aporia.

How would a stakeholder approach enable effective governance?

---

[1] Simmons, J., Eades,E., 2004,
Challenging aporia in the performance appraisal of consultants: a stakeholder systems reponse, Clinician in Managment 12:153-63