The Vocabulary
Glossary
The Greek and Latin terms whose precise meaning the modern paraphrase tends to lose.
adiaphora
ἀδιάφορα (singular adiaphoron)Literally: the indifferents, things-not-making-a-difference
Things that are neither good nor bad in themselves — health, wealth, reputation, life itself — and which therefore cannot make a person's life genuinely good or bad.
amor fati
amor fati (Latin) — "love of fate"Literally: love of one's fate
The active, willing endorsement of what happens — not mere acceptance, but the harder move of wanting what the universe has brought.
apatheia
ἀπάθειαLiterally: without passions, without pathē
The Stoic ideal of freedom from the disordered passions — explicitly NOT freedom from all feeling.
askēsis
ἄσκησιςLiterally: exercise, training, practice — root of the English ascetic
The practice of training the soul through deliberate exercises — the Stoic understanding of philosophy as something you do, not just something you know.
ataraxia
ἀταραξίαLiterally: freedom from disturbance, untroubledness
One of the Stoic names for the inner state of the sage — undisturbed, equable, free from the pull of the passions.
eudaimonia
εὐδαιμονίαLiterally: good-spiritedness, being well-favoured by one's daimōn
The flourishing life. For the Stoics, the life lived in accord with nature — that is, the life of virtue.
eupatheia
εὐπάθειαLiterally: good feeling, good affection
One of the three "good feelings" the Stoic sage actually has — joy, caution, and wish — as distinct from the disordered passions (pathē).
examen
examen (Latin)Literally: examination, weighing, inquiry — the noun form of examinare
The evening review — the Stoic practice of bringing the day before the rational faculty for inspection before sleep, asking what was done well, what was done badly, and what tomorrow's correction is.
hegemonikon
ἡγεμονικόνLiterally: the ruling or commanding part
The ruling faculty of the soul — the rational, governing centre that processes impressions and grants or refuses assent.
heimarmenē
εἱμαρμένηLiterally: what has been allotted, fate, destiny
The Stoic doctrine of fate — the causally determined order of the cosmos, with which the wise person aligns rather than resists.
hupexairesis
ὑπεξαίρεσιςLiterally: hupo- (under) + ex (out) + hairesis (taking) — withdrawal, exception
The reserve clause — the implicit qualifier "circumstances permitting" attached to every Stoic intention, so that disappointment is absorbed in advance.
kathēkon
καθῆκονLiterally: what is fitting, what comes down to one
An "appropriate action" — the practical duty fitting to one's nature and station, even if performed without complete virtue.
katorthōmata
κατορθώματαLiterally: katorthoun (to set straight, to make right) — right or perfect actions
Perfect actions — those fully virtuous in both content and motivation — which only the sage performs. The Stoic ideal that the practitioner aims at but does not expect to reach.
kosmopolitēs
κοσμοπολίτηςLiterally: kosmos (world, ordered universe) + politēs (citizen) — citizen of the cosmos
The Stoic conception of the practitioner as a member of the moral community of all rational beings — not merely of a city, family, or nation.
logos
λόγοςLiterally: word, reason, account, ratio, structure
The rational principle that orders the cosmos — and, in each rational being, the participating fragment of that same principle.
oikeiōsis
οἰκείωσιςLiterally: appropriation, affiliation, making-one's-own; from oikos, household
The natural impulse by which a living being recognizes its own well-being as its own — and, in humans, the same impulse extending outward through reason to family, community, and humanity.
pathē
πάθη (singular pathos, πάθος)Literally: things suffered, undergone; affections
The four primary disordered passions of the Stoic system — appetite, pleasure, fear, and distress — caused by mistaken assent to impressions about indifferents.
phantasia
φαντασίαLiterally: appearance, what appears; from phainesthai, to appear
An impression — the mental presentation of something, true or false, which the rational faculty must then grant or refuse assent to.
prohairesis
προαίρεσιςLiterally: pro- (before) + hairesis (choosing) — choice-before-action
The faculty of moral choice — the seat of the self in Epictetus, the one thing nobody can take from you.
prokopton
προκόπτωνLiterally: one who is making progress, advancing
The practitioner of Stoic philosophy who is not yet a sage but is on the way — the working target of all practical Stoicism.
propatheia
προπάθειαLiterally: pre-passion, first movement
The involuntary first stirring of emotion before assent is granted — a flinch, a startled gasp, a flash of irritation — which the Stoics treat as morally neutral.
prosoche
προσοχήLiterally: attention toward, attention upon
Continuous vigilant attention to the contents of one's own mind — the foundational Stoic spiritual posture.
sumpatheia
συμπάθειαLiterally: feeling-with, suffering-with, co-affection
The Stoic doctrine of cosmic sympathy — the universe as a single living organism whose parts are organically connected and causally interrelated.
sunkatathesis
συγκατάθεσιςLiterally: putting together with; agreement, consent
The act of mental assent — granting consent to an impression and treating it as true, important, threatening, or desirable.
telos
τέλοςLiterally: end, goal, completion, fulfilment
The end or goal of human life — for the Stoics, "to live in accord with nature," which means to live according to reason and virtue.