Glossary of Stoicism Terms

Glossary of Greek terms commonly found in Stoic philosophy.

A

adiaphora (ἀδιάφορα): indifferent things, neither good nor bad; wealth and political office are examples; indifferents do not contribute to the moral well-being of a person.

agathos / agathon

• agathos (ἀγαθός): good (adj.); morally good or virtuous.

• agathon (ἀγαθόν): the good (noun); virtue alone is the good.

andreia (ἀνδρεία): courage; one of the four primary (cardinal) virtues.

anthrôpos (ἄνθρωπος): human being, used by Epictetus to express an ethical ideal.

apatheia (ἀπάθεια):“freedom from irrational passions, a state of rational serenity that constitutes part of eudaimonia. Such as that achieved by the Stoic sage. freedom from passion, which is a constituent of eudaimonia.

aphormê (ἀφορμή): aversion, impulse not to act (as a result of ekklisis); the negative impulse prevents one from doing something which will hinder acting appropriately, e.g., the negative impulse will keep you from becoming angry with your father or other relative. 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 or exercise designed to achieve virtue. This refers to systematic practice of reasoning and conduct in daily life. Epictetus also speaks of meletaó as a specific form of askêsis.

ataraxia (ἀταραξία):tranquillity, undisturbedness; the chief goal in Epicurean and Skeptic philosophy. Sometimes used by later writers in a Stoic context, but the Stoics themselves preferred apatheia (freedom from passions) as the state of the sage.

autarkeia (αὐτάρκεια): self-sufficiency, mental independence of all things.

B

bene vivendi: living well; the art of virtuous living according to nature.

bona conscientia: good conscience; the moral clarity and peace that comes from living virtuously.

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 (δικαιοσύνη): justice, "consonant with the law and instrumental to a sense of duty" One of the four primary (cardinal) virtues (justice, courage, temperance, wisdom)

dogma (δόγμα): principle established by reason and experience.

doxa (δόξα): belief, opinion.

E

ekklisis (ἔκκλισις): aversion or inclination away from a thing one supposes to be bad. 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); in Ench. 1 Epictetus lists four things which are under our control: opinion (hypolêpsis), impulse (hormê), desire (orexis) and aversion (ekklisis); negative impulse (aphormê).

epistêmê (ἐπιστήμη): certain and true knowledge, over and above that of katalêpsis.

epokhê (ἐποχή): suspension of judgment, particularly concerning matters beyond one’s control or understanding.

eudaimonia (εὐδαιμονία): happiness, well-being, human flourishing (i.e., the goal of life); eudaimonia is “to live in harmony with nature (physis).”

eulabeia (εὐλάβεια): reverence or caution; respectful caution or careful attention to moral duties.

eupatheia (εὐπάθεια): good emotions, the rational and healthy counterpart to passions (pathē), experienced only by the sage.

euroia biou (εὐροία βίου): the smooth flow of life; living in harmony with oneself and the cosmos.

F

fortitudo: Latin for courage or fortitude; the endurance of hardship guided by reason.

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.

hypolêpsis (ὑπόληψις): value judgment or “taking up” an opinion, assumption, conception, notion, or understanding; more often Epictetus uses the term dogma.

K

kalos (κάλος): beautiful. Sometimes used in a moral sense: honourable, virtuous.

kakos (κακόν): badness, evil; the only evil is moral vice.

kata physin (κατὰ φύσιν): according to nature; living in agreement with rational nature and the cosmos.

kat’ axian (κατ’ ἀξίαν): according to value or worth; doing what is fitting in proportion to the worth of things.

katalêpsis (κατάληψις): clear comprehension and conviction.

kathêkon (καθῆκον): duty, appropriate action on the path to virtue; there are certain appropriate forms of behavior depending on your position or relationships in society (e.g., respect for parents and elders).

katorthóma (κατόρθωμα): right action, virtuous action; only the Stoic sage could perform katorthóma since they are the only one who knowingly performs actions correctly.

kholos (χόλος): wrath or intense anger, viewed by Stoics as a destructive passion to be eliminated.

koinonikon (κοινωνικόν): that which relates to society; the concept of humans as naturally social beings.

kosmos (κόσμος): order, world, universe.

ktêsis (κτῆσις) possession, property.

L

lekta (λεκτά): sayables; the incorporeal meanings of what is said, distinct from sounds or written marks. In Stoic logic, lekta are incorporeal but real.

logikos (λογικός): rational.

logos (λόγος): reason, explanation, word, argument. Also, the ordering principle in the kosmos.

logos spermatikos (λόγος σπερματικός): seminal reason; the generative and ordering principle through which the cosmos develops, structures itself, and is periodically renewed.

M

meletaó (μελέτη): practice or rehearsal, especially in examining impressions to determine whether they are up to us or not. Epictetus uses this term as a particular instance of askêsis. Someone making progress (prokoptôn) engages in meletaó.

memento transitus: remember the passage; a reminder of life’s impermanence and the need to prepare for death.

N

natura: nature; the rational, divine structure of the universe with which we ought to align.

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 or inclination towards a thing one supposes to be good. Opposite of ekklisis.

orthos logos (ὀρθὸς λόγος): right reason; the rational principle by which the sage judges all things.

ouk eph' hêmin (οὐκ ἐφ᾽ ἡμῖν): not up to us; in Ench. 1, Epictetus lists four things which are not up to us: body (soma), possessions (ktêsĭs), reputation (dóxai), and political office (ărkhaí).

ousia (οὐσία): substance, being.

P

paideia (παιδεία): training, education.

palingenesia (παλιγγενεσία): periodic renewal of the world associated with ekpyrôsis.

paraklêtikos (παρακλητικός): consoling, exhortative; often used in reference to the therapeutic role of philosophy.

parakolouthêsis (παρακολούθησις): following closely or logical consequence; moral development through rational tracking of principles.

pathos (πάθος): passion; an irrational, excessive impulse based on false judgement. Opposed to eupatheia (good emotions).

phantasiai (φαντασία): impression, appearance, the way in which something is perceived.

philosophia (φιλοσοφία): the pursuit of wisdom, virtue and rational living.

phronesis (φρόνησις): prudence, practical wisdom; one of the four primary (cardinal) virtues., or, colloquially, sense (as in "good sense", "horse sense").

physis, phŭ́sĭs (φύσις): nature; for the Stoics, nature referred to the universe, rationally ordered and guided by the Logos (also called God, Nature, or Zeus).

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.

prohairesis, proairesis (προαίρεσις): volition, free will, reasoned choice, giving or withholding assent to impressions; the faculty which evaluates your impressions and makes the moral choices upon which you act.

prokopê (προκοπή): progress, on the path towards wisdom.

prokoptôn (προκόπτων): Stoic disciple. A person making progress (i.e., a progressor). 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. [proficiens in Latin.] Prokoptontes is the plural form.

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

soma (σῶμα): body, substance

sophos (σοφός): wise person, virtuous sage, and the ethical ideal.

sophrosyne (σωφροσύνη): temperance or self-control; one of the four primary (cardinal) virtues, expressing the proper governance of desires and pleasures by reason. This does not imply restraint, only alignment with reason.

synkatathesis (συγκατάθεσις): assent given to an impression (phantasiai) or opinion (dogma or hypolêpsis), enabling an impulse (hormê) to act.

sympatheia (συμπάθεια): sympathy, affinity of parts to the organic whole, mutual interdependence.

syngeneia (συγγένεια): kinship; recognition of shared nature with all rational beings, basis for cosmopolitanism.

T

ta kathekonta (τὰ καθήκοντα): appropriate actions or duties aligned with one’s nature or role.

ta para physin (τὰ παρὰ φύσιν): things contrary to nature; often used to describe vice or unnatural desires.

technê (τέχνη): craft, art. The practical application of knowledge, especially epistêmê.

telos (τέλος): the ultimate end or highest purpose 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.