Philosophy & ThoughtGreek → English
Doxa
/ˈdɒksə/noun
Common belief or received opinion, as opposed to tested knowledge.
The Greek roots
δόξα
dóxa
opinion, appearance
δοκεῖν
dokeîn
to seem
Literally: “how a thing seems”
The story of the word
For Plato it is the low form of knowing, the belief that happens to be right without knowing why. Then the Septuagint translators used δόξα to render Hebrew kavod, the weight and radiance of God, and the word acquired a second life meaning glory. That is why doxology means praise rather than a study of opinions, while orthodox still means holding the right opinion and paradox means running against it.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → English
- First recorded
- 20th century
Same family
orthodoxparadoxdoxologyheterodox
In a sentence
What the seminar called theory was mostly the doxa of its own decade.
He set out to show where doxa ends and argument begins.