Glossary of Stoicism terms explained
Glossary of terms commonly found in Stoic philosophy.
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).
