actative

English

Etymology

From act +‎ -ative.

Adjective

actative (comparative more actative, superlative most actative)

(uncommon) Serving to act.
- 1878, William N. Haggard, Creation, as a Divine Synthesis, London, Recognition XV, page 100:
  Firstly then, the MENS may be said to be subject to the immotions of contemplation and volition, corresponding to, but not similar to, the receptative and actative natures of the ANIMUS, which have been regarded as subject to cognitions and impulses.
- 1991, Andrew Benjamin, “The Decline of Art: Benjamin's Aura” (chapter 9), in Art, Mimesis, and the Avant-garde: Aspects of a philosophy of difference, London: Routledge, pages 148-149:
  Perhaps the most acute expression of the different structures of time and being within philosophy can be found in the actative dimension which provides the difference between Heraclitus and Plato.
- 1998, James M. Jones, “The Essential Power of Racism: Commentary and Conclusion?”, in Jennifer L. Eberhardt, Susan T. Fiske, editors, Confronting Racism: The Problem and the Response, SAGE Publications, page 282:
  Thus, groups are not only possessed of certain attributes (intelligence, beauty, work ethic, and other entative characteristics), but they enjoy active control over others by determining their life outcomes (they evaluate, select, punish, reward, among other actative behaviors).
- 2002, Neil Leach, “Belonging: Towards a Theory of Identification with Space”, in Jean Hillier, Emma Rooksby, editors, Habitus: A Sense of Place, Ashgate Publishing, page 291:
  The seemingly static model of identification forged through a “reflection” — as though in a mirror — appears at first sight to contrast markedly with the more dynamic notion of identity based on performativity. And yet, if we perceive the former as being grounded in a certain intentionality, we should recognise the actative dimension to the gaze itself.
- 2006, Neil Leach, “Sensuous Correspondence”, in Camouflage, MIT Press, page 35:
  Secondly, whereas for Benjamin the term mimesis is a largely passive one, which in essence constitutes a mechanism for finding meaning in the world, for Adorno it displays a more actative, creative character.

Noun

actative (plural actatives)

(uncommon) Something that serves to act.
- 2005, Dimitris Vardoulakis, “"What terrifying complicity" Jean Paul as Colocutor”, in Leslie Hill, Brian Nelson, Dimitris Vardoulakis, editors, After Blanchot: Literature, Criticism, Philosophy, University of Delaware Press, page 183:
  Whose are these hands? Are they really Blanchot’s? How could Blanchot be so careless as to reinstate the actative of “writing” when all action had given way to absence?
- 1998, Andrew Benajamin, “Shoah, remembrance and the abeyance of fate: Walter Benjamin's 'fate and character'”, in Laura Marcus, Lynda Nead, editors, The Actuality of Walter Benjamin, Lawrence & Wishart, page 149:
  The ineliminable presence of action and with it of inscribed presence of the actative in this formulation should not therefore pass unnoticed.
- 2016, Helen Hills, “Indroduction: openings”, in The matter of miracles : Neapolitan baroque architecture and sanctity, Manchester University Press, page 28:
  Rather than a substantative, having an essence that can be identified, holiness or spirituality is better termed an actative. This actative is conflictual and therefore unable to support an essential.