adiaphora

The etymological root of adiaphora It is found in the Greek word adiaphores, which can be translated as "indifferent". The concept, according to the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), is used in the field of ecdotic (the discipline dedicated to the analysis of text editing) to refer to a textual variant that does not modify the meaning of the original work in a substantial way or whose deviation cannot be established.

An adiaphor, in this frame, is a variation of a text. Take the case of "La Araucana", a famous poem by Alonso de Ercilla. This work had different editions between 1569 Y 1590, which resulted in several adiaphoras.

The concept is also used in the field of philosophy. The adiaphor can be understood as a apathetic attitude towards reality.

For the stoics, adiaphoras are acts that, from the moral point of view, they result indifferent. Therefore they are beyond the trials about what is wrong or right. In other words, an adiaphor is not indicated or censured according to morality since it does not contribute to evil or goodness.

The Stoics believed that good and bad were things that Humans they could control. What was left outside was an adiaphor, which more than an action could be a condition or an element. The relative adiaphoras implied the existence of a preference, whereas absolute adiaphoras they were linked to distinctions that were irrelevant.

Finally, in Christianity, an adiaphor is an action that is not ordered or censored by God. In this way, the fact of specifying or omitting it is indistinct.