Sophrosyne
Sophrosyne (
It is similar to the concepts of zhōngyōng (中庸) of Chinese Confucianism[2] and sattva (सत्त्व) of Indian thought.[3]
Ancient Greek literature
In
Heraclitus's fragment 112 states:[6]
σωφρονεῖν ἀρετὴ μεγίστη, καὶ σοφίη ἀληθέα λέγειν καὶ ποιεῖν κατὰ φύσιν ἐπαίοντας |
Sophrosyne is the greatest virtue, and wisdom is speaking and acting the truth, paying heed to the nature of things |
Themes connected with sophrosyne and hubris figure prominently in plays of
: 71–123Goddess
The 6th-century BCE poet
Plato
Sophrosyne is an important topic for Plato. It is the main subject of the dialogue Charmides, wherein several definitions are proposed but no conclusion reached; however in the dramatic context it connotes moral purity and innocence. An etymological meaning of sophrosyne as "preservation of thoughtfulness" is proposed in Cratylus 411e. Plato's view of sophrosyne is related to Pythagorean harmonia (Republic 430e−432a, 442c) and closely linked with Plato’s
Aristotle
Aristotle included discussions of sophrosyne[11]: III.10–11 in his pioneering system of virtue ethics.
Aristotle believed sophrosyne was described "a
His discussion is found in the Nicomachean Ethics Book III, chapters 10–12, and concludes in this way:
And so the appetites of temperate men (σώφρωνος) should be in harmony with their reason; for the aim of both is that which is noble: the temperate man (σώφρων) desires what he ought, and as he ought, and when he ought; and this again is what reason prescribes. This, then, may be taken as an account of sophrosynes (σωφροσύνης).[11]: III.12
As with virtue generally, sophrosyne is a sort of habit, acquired by practice.[11]: II.1 It is a state of character, not a passion or a faculty,[11]: II.5 specifically a disposition to choose the mean[11]: II.6 between excess and deficit.[11]: II.2 The mean is hard to attain, and is grasped by perception, not by reasoning.[11]: II.9
Pleasure in doing virtuous acts is a sign that one has attained a virtuous disposition.[11]: II.3 Sophrosyne is the alignment of our desires with our enlightened self-interest, such that we desire to do what is best for our own flourishing.
After Aristotle
For the Stoic,
Demophilus, a Pythagorean philosopher of uncertain date, wrote:[13]
Ρώμη ψυχής σωφροσύνη αύτη γαρ ψυχής απαθούς φώς εστιν |
The vigor of the soul is sophrosyne, the light of a soul free of disturbing passions. |
Sophrosyne, according to St. Thomas Aquinas, is the fourth and final cardinal virtue.[16]
It is also mentioned in the work On Virtues (Greek: Περὶ ἀρετῶν) by Georgios Gemistos Plethon.
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-507290-7.
- ^ 林之满 萧枫, ed. (2014). 流光溢彩的世界古典史. Changsha: Green Apple Data Center. p. 237.
- ^
- Curzer, H. J. (2012). Aristotle and the Virtues. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 77.
- Schadé, J. P.; Wiener, N. (1966). Progress in Biocybernetics. Amsterdam: Elsevier. p. 1.
- ^ JSTOR 10.7591/j.cttq4533.
- ISBN 9780791426234.
- ^ Hyland, D. A. (2008). Plato and the Question of Beauty. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 105.
- JSTOR 283479.
- ^ Barnes, H. E. (1960). "The Hippolytus of Drama and Myth". In Sutherland, D.; Barnes, H. E. (eds.). Hippolytus in Drama and Myth. Vol. 75. Lincoln Neb. pp. 71–123.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Rademaker, A. (2005). Sophrosyne and the Rhetoric of Self-Restraint: Polysemy & Persuasive Use of an Ancient Greek Value Term. Leiden & Boston: Brill. pp. 76–78.
- ISBN 9780814765524.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Aristotle (1906) [c. 340 BCE]. Nicomachean Ethics. Translated by Peters, F.H.
- ^ Peters, F. E. (1967). Greek Philosophical Terms: A Historical Lexicon. New York: NYU Press. p. 180.
- ^ Sentences of Demophilus 39 = Stobaeus, Florilegium, vol. 1. Leipzig: Teubner, 1855, p. 117 (Peri Sophrosyne 42).
- Tusculan Disputations. 3.8.16.
- ISBN 9789401005913.
- ^ Harrington, Daniel; Keenan, James (2010). Paul and Virtue Ethics. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers. pp. 125–126.
Further reading
- Moore, Christopher (2023). The virtue of agency: Sôphrosunê and self-constitution in classical Greece. New York, NY, United States of America: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780197663509.
- Van Tongeren, Paul (2001). "Nietzsche's revaluation of the cardinal virtues: The case of Sophrosyne" (PDF). Phronimon: Journal of the South African Society for Greek Philosophy and the Humanities. 3: 128–49.