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Concepts In Greek Thought

~3 mins read

• Eudaimonia, ‘good spirit’, ‘happiness’ ‘welfare’, ‘flourishing’
• Apatheia, freedom from pain and fear
• Arete, excellence, the realization of potential
• Ataraxia, freedom from trouble, distress and worry
• Harmonia
• Epoché, suspension of judgment
• Praxis, practice
• Sophrosyne, sound-mindedness
• Andreía, courage
• Dikaiosýnē, justice
• Phronesis, good judgment

In alphabetical order

• Apatheia (Greek: ἀπάθεια; from a- “without” and pathos “suffering” or “passion”), freedom from pain and fear.

• Arete (Greek: ἀρετή, aretḗ) ‘excellence’ of any kind, especially a person or thing’s “full realization of potential or inherent function.”

• Ataraxia (Greek: ἀταραξία, from alpha privative (“a-“, negation) and tarachē “disturbance, trouble”; hence, “unperturbedness”, generally translated as “imperturbability”, “equanimity”, or “tranquility”), ongoing freedom from distress and worry.

• Epoché (ἐποχή epokhē, “cessation”) “suspension of judgment”, “withholding of assent”, setting aside assumptions and beliefs

• Ethos (/ˈiːθɒs/ or US: /ˈiːθoʊs/) is a Greek word meaning “character” that is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology; and the balance between caution, and passion

• Eudaimonia (Greek: εὐδαιμονία), the state or condition of ‘good spirit’, ‘happiness’ ‘welfare’, ‘flourishing’

In the works of Aristotle, eudaimonia was the term for the highest human good, the aim of practical philosophy-prudence, including ethics and political philosophy

• Dogma is a belief accepted without being questioned or doubted

• Phronesis (Ancient Greek: φρόνησῐς, romanized: phrónēsis), translated into English by terms such as prudence, practical virtue and practical wisdom, or, colloquially, sense (as in “good sense”, “horse sense”) is an ancient Greek word for a type of wisdom or intelligence relevant to practical action. It implies both good judgment and excellence of character and habits, and was a common topic of discussion in ancient Greek philosophy, in ways that are still influential today.

Gaining phronesis requires experience, according to Aristotle who wrote that:

…although the young may be experts in geometry and mathematics and similar branches of knowledge [sophoi], we do not consider that a young man can have Prudence [phronimos]. The reason is that Prudence [phronesis] includes a knowledge of particular facts, and this is derived from experience, which a young man does not possess; for experience is the fruit of years.

• Praxis (from Ancient Greek: πρᾶξις, romanized: praxis) is the process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted, embodied, or realized. “Praxis” may also refer to the act of engaging, applying, exercising, realizing, or practicing ideas.

• Sophrosyne (Greek: σωφροσύνη) is an ancient Greek concept of an ideal of excellence of character and soundness of mind, which when combined in one well-balanced individual leads to other qualities, such as temperance, moderation, prudence, and self-control. An adjectival form is “sophron.”

It is similar to the concepts of zhōngyōng (中庸) of Chinese Confucianism and sattva (सत्त्व) of Indian thought.

Techne (Greek: τέχνη) ‘craft, art’, making or doing