Glossary of terms commonly found in Stoic philosophy.
Contents:
A
- adiaphora
- ἀδιάφορα: indifferent things, neither good nor bad.
- agathos
- ἀγαθός: good, proper object of desire.
- anthrôpos
- ἄνθρωπος: human being, used by Epictetus to express an ethical ideal.
- apatheia
- ἀπάθεια: serenity, peace of mind, such as that achieved by the Stoic sage.
- aphormê
- ἀφορμή: aversion, impulse not to act (as a result of ekklisis). Opposite of hormê.
- apoproêgmena
- ἀποπροηγμένα: dispreferred things. Morally indifferent but naturally undesirable things, such as illness. Opposite of proêgmena.
- aretê
- ἀρετή: Virtue. Goodness and human excellence.
- askêsis
- ἄσκησις: disciplined training designed to achieve virtue.
- ataraxia
- ἀταραξία: tranquillity, untroubled by external things.
- autarkeia
- αὐτάρκεια: self-sufficiency, mental independence of all things.
D
- daimôn
- δαίμων: divine spirit within humans.
- diairesis
- διαίρεσις: analysis, division into parts. Used when distinguishing what is subject to our power of choice from what is not.
- dikaiosyne
- δικαιοσύνε: justice, "consonant with the law and instrumental to a sense of duty" (Diogenes Laertius 7.98). One of the four virtues (justice, courage, temperance, wisdom/prudence).
- dogma
- δόγμα: principle established by reason and experience.
- doxa
- δόξα: belief, opinion.
E
- ekklisis
- ἔκκλισις: aversion, inclination away from a thing. Opposite of orexis.
- ekpyrôsis
- ἐκπύρωσις: cyclical conflagration of the Universe.
- eph' hêmin
- ἐφ' ἡμῖν: up to us, what is in our power, e.g. the correct use of impressions.
- epistêmê
- ἐπιστήμη: certain and true knowledge, over and above that of katalêpsis.
- eudaimonia
- εὐδαιμονία: happiness, well-being.
- eupatheia
- εὐπάθεια: good feeling (as contrasted with pathos), occurring in the Stoic sage who performs correct (virtuous) judgements and actions.
H
- hêgemonikon
- ἡγεμονικόν: ruling faculty of the mind.
- heimarmenê
- εἱμαρμένη: fate, destiny.
- hormê
- ὁρμή: positive impulse or appetite towards an object (as a result of orexis). Opposite of aphormê.
- hylê
- ὕλη: matter, material.
K
- kalos
- κάλος: beautiful. Sometimes used in a moral sense: honourable, virtuous.
- katalêpsis
- κατάληψις: clear comprehension and conviction.
- kathêkon
- καθῆκον: duty, appropriate action on the path to Virtue.
- kosmos
- κόσμος: order, world, universe.
L
- logikos
- λογικός: rational.
- logos
- λόγος: reason, explanation, word, argument. Also, the ordering principle in the kosmos.
- logos spermatikos
- λόγος σπερματικός: the generative principle of the Universe which creates and takes back all things.
N
- nomos
- νόμος: law, custom.
O
- oiêsis
- οἴησις: opinion, usually arrogant or self-conceited.
- oikeiôsis
- οἰκείωσις: self-ownership and extension. The process of self-awareness in all animals, which in humans leads to a sense of community.
- orexis
- ὄρεξις: desire, inclination towards a thing. Opposite of ekklisis.
- ousia
- οὐσία: substance, being.
P
- paideia
- παιδεία: training, education.
- palingenesia
- παλιγγενεσία: periodic renewal of the world associated with ekpyrôsis.
- pathos
- πάθος: passion or emotion, often excessive and based on false judgements.
- phantasiai
- φαντασία: impression, appearance, the way in which something is perceived.
- phronesis
- φρόνησις: prudence, practical virtue and practical wisdom, or, colloquially, sense (as in "good sense", "horse sense").
- physis
- φύσις: nature.
- pneuma
- πνεῦμα: air, breath, spirit, often as a principle in Stoic physics.
- proêgmena
- προηγμένα: preferred things. Morally indifferent but naturally desirable things, such as health. Opposite of apoproêgmena.
- proficiens
- Latin for prokoptôn.
- pro(h)airesis
- προαίρεσις: free will, reasoned choice, giving or withholding assent to impressions.
- prokopê
- προκοπή: progress, on the path towards wisdom.
- prokoptôn
- προκόπτων: Stoic disciple. A person making progress. Even though one has not obtained the wisdom of a sage; when appropriate actions are increasingly chosen, fewer and fewer mistakes will be made, and one will be prokoptôn, making progress.
- prolêpsis
- πρόληψις: preconception possessed by all rational beings.
- prosochē
- προσοχή: attitude and practice of attention, mindfulness. State of continuous, vigilant, and unrelenting attentiveness to oneself (prohairesis)
- psychê
- ψυχή: mind, soul, life, living principle.
S
- sophos
- σοφός: wise person, virtuous sage, and the ethical ideal.
- synkatathesis (sunkatathesis)
- συγκατάθεσις: assent, approval to impressions, enabling action to take place.
- sympatheia
- συμπάθεια: sympathy, affinity of parts to the organic whole, mutual interdependence.
T
- technê
- τέχνη: craft, art. The practical application of knowledge, especially epistêmê.
- telos
- τέλος: goal or objective of life.
- theôrêma
- θεώρημα: general principle or perception.
- theos
- θεός: god; associated with the order in the Universe.
- tonos
- τόνος: tension, a principle in Stoic physics causing attraction and repulsion, and also the cause of virtue and vice in the soul.
References
- Devettere, R., Glossary, in Introduction to Virtue Ethics: Insights of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 139–154. Georgetown University Press. (2002).
- Haines, C., Glossary of Greek terms, in Marcus Aurelius, pp. 411–416. Loeb Classical Library. (1916).
- Inwood, B., Gerson L., Glossary, in Hellenistic Philosophy: Introductory Readings, pp. 399–409. Hackett Publishing. (1997).
- Long, A. A., Glossary, in A Stoic and Socratic Guide to Life, pp. 275–276. Oxford University Press. (2002)
- Schofield, M., Index and Glossary of Greek terms, in The Stoic Idea of the City, pp. 171–172. Cambridge University Press. (1991).
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