Glossary of Stoicism terms
# Glossary of Stoicism terms

Glossary of terms commonly found in Stoic philosophy.

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

## 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

    φρόνησῐς: 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.
