Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In Greek antiquity, an embassy sent on a mission of state associated with religion, such as an appeal to an oracle.
  • noun Philosophic speculation: used by Ruskin to express the higher moral appreciation of beauty, as distinguished from æsthesis, which stands for the sensual appreciation. See the extract.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Truth is first of all a thing of seeing, of understanding, of "theoria," as it is called by the Greek tradition.

    Archive 2008-01-20 papabear 2008

  • The word theory comes from the Greek theoria (θεωρία), apparently first coming into its more modern use in the works of Plato, where theoria meant “contemplation, speculation, a looking at, things looked at”.

    The Language of Science – it’s “just a theory” 2010

  • Within Greek philosophy, theoria was used to mean contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action – this is very similar to the non-technical definitions we see today. 1610 saw the first recorded use of theory to mean “principles or methods of a science or art (rather than its practice)”, while in 1630, it was upped all the way to “an explanation based on observation and reasoning”.

    The Language of Science – it’s “just a theory” 2010

  • The word theory comes from the Greek theoria (θεωρία), apparently first coming into its more modern use in the works of Plato, where theoria meant “contemplation, speculation, a looking at, things looked at”.

    The Language of Science – it’s “just a theory” 2010

  • Within Greek philosophy, theoria was used to mean contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action – this is very similar to the non-technical definitions we see today. 1610 saw the first recorded use of theory to mean “principles or methods of a science or art (rather than its practice)”, while in 1630, it was upped all the way to “an explanation based on observation and reasoning”.

    The Language of Science – it’s “just a theory” 2010

  • Within Greek philosophy, theoria was used to mean contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action – this is very similar to the non-technical definitions we see today. 1610 saw the first recorded use of theory to mean “principles or methods of a science or art (rather than its practice)”, while in 1630, it was upped all the way to “an explanation based on observation and reasoning”.

    The Language of Science – it’s “just a theory” 2010

  • The word theory comes from the Greek theoria (θεωρία), apparently first coming into its more modern use in the works of Plato, where theoria meant “contemplation, speculation, a looking at, things looked at”.

    The Language of Science – it’s “just a theory” 2010

  • Such an incarnation of spirit in matter remains a delusion that both Nazi Germany and Communist Russia sought to promulgate as the demonic parody of what in theoria, as distinct from praxis, Jung's psychology had affirmed.

    Romanticism, Alchemy, and Psychology 2008

  • Likewise, according to Lossky, Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, 202, praxis and theoria — regarded also as action and contemplation — are distinct yet inseparable in Christian wisdom. back

    Architecture and Memory: The Renaissance Studioli of Federico da Montefeltro 2008

  • The fundamental meaning of the Greek word ‘theoria’ actually has to do with seeing.

    The Idea of Design in Nature: Science or Phenomenology? By Jakob Wolf William Harryman 2009

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