Glossary of Stoicism terms

Glossary of terms commonly found in Stoic philosophy.

Contents:

* A
* D
* E
* H
* K
* L
* N
* O
* P
* S
* T

## A

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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nomos
νόμος: law, custom.

## O

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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

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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

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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

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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

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* 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).

* v
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Stoicism

Philosophers|

| Greek|

| Scholarchs of the Stoa|

* Zeno of Citium
* Cleanthes
* Chrysippus
* Zeno of Tarsus
* Diogenes of Babylon
* Antipater of Tarsus
* Panaetius

|

* Aristo of Chios
* Sphaerus
* Persaeus
* Herillus
* Dioscorides
* Crates of Mallus
* Zenodotus
* Apollodorus of Seleucia
* Boethus of Sidon
* Dardanus
* Mnesarchus
* Dionysius of Cyrene
* Hecato of Rhodes
* Diotimus the Stoic
* Posidonius
* Geminus
* Diodotus
* Antipater of Tyre
* Apollonides
* Athenodorus Cananites

Roman|

* Publius Rutilius Rufus
* Quintus Lucilius Balbus
* Cato the Younger
* Quintus Sextius
* Attalus
* Papirius Fabianus
* Seneca
* Cornutus
* Chaeremon of Alexandria
* Paconius Agrippinus
* Persius
* Helvidius Priscus
* Arulenus Rusticus
* Musonius Rufus
* Thrasea Paetus
* Rubellius Plautus
* Barea Soranus
* Publius Egnatius Celer
* Mara bar Serapion
* Euphrates
* Epictetus
* Hierocles
* Claudius Maximus
* Basilides
* Apollonius of Chalcedon
* Junius Rusticus
* Marcus Aurelius (Philosophy)

Philosophical concepts|

| Logic|

* Logos
* Adiaphora
* Katalepsis
* Diairesis

|

Physics|

* Physis
* Fire
* Pneuma

Ethics|

* Pathos
* Apatheia
* Eudaimonia
* Kathekon
* Negative visualization
* Oikeiôsis
* Prohairesis
* Sophos

Works|

* On Passions (Chrysippus)
* Paradoxa Stoicorum
* Letters to Lucilius (Seneca)
* Seneca's Essays
* De Providentia
* De Brevitate Vitae
* De Vita Beata
* De Beneficiis
* De Clementia
* De Tranquillitate Animi
* De Ira
* De Otio
* De Constantia Sapientis
* Seneca's Consolations
* Lectures (Musonius Rufus)
* Discourses of Epictetus
* Enchiridion of Epictetus
* Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
* Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta

Related articles|

* Stoa Poikile
* Stoic Opposition
* Neostoicism

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