offenkundigem

Offenkundig is a German adjective meaning obvious or manifest. The inflected form offenkundigem appears when the adjective occurs in a dative phrase before a noun, for example mit offenkundigem Beweis (with self-evident proof). The corresponding noun forms are typically written as das Offenkundige (the obvious) or die Offenkundigkeit (self-evidence or manifestness), depending on the grammatical construction.

In philosophy and rhetorical analysis, Offenkundigkeit or das Offenkundige denotes the immediate, self-evident status of certain propositions or appearances—that is, claims that seem evident without further demonstration. This status can be taken for granted in ordinary discourse, but it may be contested in academic contexts, where what appears offenkundig to one audience may be questioned by another. The term is closely related to, but not always identical with, obviousness or Selbstbeweis (self-evidence), and its precise meaning can vary with theoretical tradition.

Historically, German writers have used the term to discuss how some knowledge presents itself to consciousness or how arguments seem to require no additional justification. In contemporary usage, offenkundigkeit is encountered in epistemology, phenomenology, and rhetoric, where scholars examine the conditions under which appearances or propositions are deemed self-evident and when such certainty is legitimate or misleading.

See also: offensichtlich, evident, Selbstbeweis; Offenkundigkeit.