释义 |
problematic, a. and n.|prɒblɪˈmætɪk| Also 7 -ique. [a. F. problématique (15th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. late L. problēmatic-us, a. Gr. προβληµατικ-ός, f. πρόβληµα: see problem and -atic.] A. adj. 1. Of the nature of a problem; constituting or presenting a problem; difficult of solution or decision; doubtful, uncertain, questionable.
1609Ev. Woman in Hum. ii. i. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, All which to me are problematique mines, Obscurde inigmaes. 1768H. Walpole Hist. Doubts 73 Were that imputation true, which is very problematic. 1807Coleridge in Lit. Rem. (1836) I. 263 The very existence of any such individual [Homer].., is more than problematic. 1875H. C. Wood Therap. (1879) 522 The value of true expectorants in pneumonia..is exceedingly problematic. 2. Logic. Enunciating or supporting what is possible but not necessarily true.
1610Healey St. Aug. Citie of God 260 A problematique form of argument. 1677[see probationatory]. 1837–8Sir W. Hamilton Logic xiv. (1866) I. 260 A proposition is called..Problematic, when it enounces what is known as possible. 1863E. V. Neale Anal. Th. & Nat. 242 The judgment ‘If this house has stone floors it will be fire proof’ is as much a problematic judgment as ‘the house considered from this point of view is good’. 1884tr. Lotze's Logic i. ii. 51 The ambiguity of the ordinary theory of modality is still more striking in the case of problematic judgments. Ibid., What it [a proposition] states is not a real occurrence, but the possibility of an unreal or only conceived one, and this is enough according to traditional usage to give it the name of problematic. 3. Chess. Of or relating to problems.
1890Rayner Chess Problems 5 Aspirants to problematic fame. 1905A. F. Mackenzie Chess Lyrics lii, Three or four-move themes..well worthy of illustration and preservation in problematic form. B. n. Sociol. Something that constitutes a problem, or an area of difficulty in a particular field of study.
1957R. K. Merton Social Theory (rev. ed.) ii. 127 Working out its problematics, i.e., the principal problems (conceptual, substantive and procedural). 1969R. Blackburn in Cockburn & Blackburn Student Power 194 The dialectical approach to the same problematic adopted by such writers as Isaac Deutscher and Herbert Marcuse enabled them to obtain a more lasting insight into the dynamic of Soviet society. 1971Catholic Q. XXXIII. 439 Essays..sharing the common problematic of attempting to situate the language of faith within language as a whole along the lines indicated by modern linguistic analysis. 1977R. H. Brown in Douglas & Johnson Existential Sociol. ii. 77 A humanistic sociology investigates the problematics of feeling and meaning. |