ABSTRACT
Apophasis is a deliberate embrace of the lack of words. It takes strength from the weakness of language. It is a form of explicit rather than implicit silence. Apophasis is a broader concept of linguistic self-negation that points at and carries extra-linguistic connotations. In apophasis, silence discourses. It is creative negation, reflective of the limits of language. 'Small voice' is a strategy of silence as old as the world. Silence in worship, love, intimacy, mourning, victory and loss symbolises – not only initiates but also celebrates – close bonds. Evaluation then would not be self-referential, autopoetic 'measuring of the outcomes against the objectives' but a constant, spontaneous and spiralling quest of 'learning loops'. It focuses less on purposive decision-making process and more on getting rid of the 'tyranny of purposiveness'. Interestingly, the concept of silence as negation makes a case for communicative action against strategic action.
