LOGOS

GREEK GLOSSARY

agathon: the Good (Plato)

agathos: good, noble

alētheia: truth

anankē: necessity

anthrōpos: man, mankind, humankind

aporia: insoluble puzzle, “dead end”

archē: origin, beginning, starting point, first principle

aretē: functional excellence, goodness of a thing, virtue

autarkeia or autarkia: self-sufficiency, independence, autonomy, self-reliance

chaos: gap, chasm; disorder, formlessness, confusion, disorganization

dialektikē: art of conversation, discussion; form of reasoning proceeding by means of question and answer; dialectic; logical argument or debate with primary aim of refuting one’s opponent by reducing him to logical contradiction, dilemma or paradox

doxa: opinion, seeming, belief

eidōlon: copy. image

eidos: essence, form, idea, constitutive nature

eikōn: image

elenchus: cross-examination, refutation, testing (Socrates)

epagōgē: inductive reasoning; extracting a common, universal essence from the observation of particular instances or examples; grasping a general characteristic shared by all members of a class

epistēmē: true, real, genuine, scientific, systematic knowledge

ergon: work, deed, function

ēthos: character, one’s habitual way of living, one’s moral motivation or purpose

eudaimonia: vital well-being, happiness, human flourishing, spiritual fulfillment

gnōthi se auton: know thyself (injunction inscribed on the temple at Delphi; Socrates)

kosmos: order, universe, cosmos

logos: speech, discourse, thought, reason, account of or science of the underlying reasons for why a thing is what it is

maieutikos: one who acts like a midwife (Socrates)

mimēsis: imitation

morphē: form, shape, figure

mythos or muthos: story, traditional tale, legend, myth, fable

nomos: convention, custom, law

nous: mind, reason, intelligence

on: Being

ousia: substance, essence, reality

philosophia (from philos, love; or philia, friendship, affection, affinity for, attraction toward; + sophos, a sage, a wise one; or sophia, wisdom, skill, intelligence, etc.): love of wisdom, pursuit of wisdom, philosophy

phronēsis: prudence, practical wisdom,

physis or phusis: nature, essential reality (as opposed to appearance), whatever exists outside humankind

polis: city-state

polloi: the crowd, the masses, the many

pseudos: falsity

psychē or psuchē: soul, breath of life, mind, spirit

Q

sophistēs: professor, teacher, wise man (Sophists)

sophia: wisdom, knowledge, intelligence, skill

sophos: sage, seer, wise man (Presocratics)

sōphrosynē: moderation, temperance, balanced

technē:, craft, art of making something , practical skill

telos: goal, end, aim, purpose, result, completion or fulfillment of something, final point toward which a process is directed

theōria: looking at, viewing, beholding, rational contemplation, knowing

theos: divine, god