greek-soulfeatured in 28 works

Impulse & Assent

The Stoic anatomy of every action: an impression appears, reason says 'yes,' and that assent fires the impulse to act.

Impulse (horme) and assent (synkatathesis) are the gears of Stoic action theory (early Stoa, 3rd c. BCE). An impression presents something as worth doing; the mind's ruling part either grants assent to it or holds back; granting assent produces impulse, the movement toward action. Because assent is 'up to us,' the Stoics located human freedom and moral responsibility precisely here. Chrysippus used it to reconcile fate with agency — a move made famous by Epictetus' insistence that our judgments, not events, are what lie in our power.

How it traveled

Eudemian Ethics
Chalcis · -322
explains
De anima
Chalcis · -322
explains
Lucullus
Formiae · -43
explains
De Fato
Formiae · -43
explains
Discourses
Nicopolis · 108
explains
De Stoicorum repugnantiis
Chaeronea · 120
explains
The Handbook
Nicopolis · 135
explains
Fragments
Nicopolis · 135
explains
Ad Se Ipsum
Vindobona (Vienna) · 170
explains
Adversus Mathematicos
Alexandria · 190
explains
Pyrrhoniae Hypotyposes
Alexandria · 210
explains
Vitae philosophorum
— · 240
explains
Enneades
Rome · 270
explains
Duties of the Heart
Zaragoza (Saragossa) · 1080
Ketem Paz on Zohar
Tzfat · 1561
Reshit Chokhmah
Tzfat · 1575
Maor VaShemesh
Krakow (Cracow) · 1817
Fragmenta Moralia
Athens
explains
Fragmenta Logica et Physica
Athens
explains
De placitis Hippocratis et Platonis
Rome
explains
De fato
Athens
explains
Liber de philosophorum sectis (epitome ap. Stobaeum)
—
explains
Stromata
—
explains
De Ira
—
explains
De Ebrietate
—
explains
Suidae lexicon
—
explains
Epistulae
—
explains
In Aristotelis Libros De Anima Paraphrasis
—
explains

Key passages(20)

Origin Anchor — gr-impulse-assent↗origin

Fragments & Testimonia · Chrysippus