hêgemonikon

ἡγεμονικόν

Pronunciation

hej-uh-MAH-nuh-kahn or heg-uh-MON-i-kuhn

Definition

Diogenes Laertius¹ described the soul as having eight parts:

1. The five senses (i.e., sight, taste, touch, hearing, and smell)

2. The faculty of speech (i.e., communication)

3. The generative faculty (i.e., sexual reproduction)

4. The thinking part or rational faculty (hêgemonikon)

The hêgemonikon controls our body and psychological responses and is comprised of four rational faculties: impression, reflection, assent, and impulse.

Hêgemonikon is the ruling faculty of the mind, often associated by the Stoics with the self.

Impression (phantasia): a representation in the mind. Impression is a metaphor akin to the impression one makes when pressing a signet ring into a wax seal. An impression is not the ring itself but a representation of it. Likewise, the Stoics were materialists who believed that everything was composed of matter. Impressions were changes in the mind that represented the world around it.

Reflection and Reason (dianoia/logos): use of reason about whether an impression accurately represents reality. Is this impression true or false?

Assent (synkathesis): a judgment about an impression.

Impulse (hormê): a psychological or motivational force towards or away from an object (i.e., impression). In an animal sense, an animal sees food and gets an impulse towards it.

References:

1. Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, 7.110