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The Ruling Faculty

The Stoics' 'command center' of the soul — the part that thinks, judges, and gives the yes-or-no behind every action.

Hegemonikon ('the ruling part') is the Stoic name (early Stoa, 3rd c. BCE; Chrysippus its great theorist) for the soul's central governing faculty, which they located in the heart. From it radiate the senses, speech, and impulse; into it impressions arrive, and there reason grants or withholds its assent. Because it is the seat of judgment, Stoic ethics — keeping the hegemonikon in a rational, virtuous state — is essentially the discipline of this one faculty, a theme that runs through Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius.

How it traveled

  1. Discourses
    Nicopolis · 108
    explains
  2. The Handbook
    Nicopolis · 135
    explains
  3. Fragments
    Nicopolis · 135
    explains
  4. Ad Se Ipsum
    Vindobona (Vienna) · 170
    explains
  5. Adversus Mathematicos
    Alexandria · 190
    explains
  6. Pyrrhoniae Hypotyposes
    Alexandria · 210
    explains
  7. Vitae philosophorum
    — · 240
    explains
  8. Enneades
    Rome · 270
    explains
  9. Duties of the Heart
    Zaragoza (Saragossa) · 1080
  10. Reshit Chokhmah
    Tzfat · 1575
  11. Tanya
    Liadi · 1797
  12. Likutei Moharan
    Breslov (Ukraine) · 1802
  13. Maor VaShemesh
    Krakow (Cracow) · 1817
  14. Likutei Halakhot
    Breslov (Ukraine) · 1840
  15. Malbim on Proverbs
    Bucharest · 1860
  16. Malbim on Psalms
    Bucharest · 1860
  17. Fragmenta Logica et Physica
    Athens
    explains
  18. Fragmenta Moralia
    Athens
    explains
  19. De placitis Hippocratis et Platonis
    Rome
    explains
  20. Legum Allegoriarum Libri I-III
    —
    explains
  21. De Somniis (lib. i-ii)
    —
    explains
  22. Placita Philosophorum
    —
    explains
  23. Epistulae
    —
    explains
  24. Stromata
    —
    explains
  25. Praeparatio Evangelica
    —
    explains
  26. De Sacrificiis Abelis Et Caini
    —
    explains
  27. De Specialibus Legibus (lib. i‑iv)
    —
    explains
  28. De Fuga Et Inventione
    —
    explains
  29. Selecta in Psalmos [Dub.]
    —
    explains
  30. Contra Celsum
    —
    explains

Key passages(20)

Origin Anchor — gr-hegemonikon↗origin

Fragments & Testimonia · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 911↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Alexander of Aphrodisias, De anima 1.31↗explains

De anima · Alexander of Aphrodisias

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Moralia 459↗explains

Fragmenta Moralia · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 642↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 83↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 830↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 836↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 842↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 857↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 861↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 881↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 885↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 887↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 891↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 895↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 910↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 96↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Cicero, Marcus Tullius, de Natura Deorum 2.29↗explains

de Natura Deorum · Cicero

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Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 6.16.135↗explains

Stromata · Clement of Alexandria

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