Desire / Appetition (Orexis)
Nothing moves an animal but desire reaching toward a goal — the inner pull Aristotle made the engine of all action.
Orexis is Aristotle's word for the whole faculty of desire — the reaching-out of a living thing toward something it perceives as good or pleasant. He splits it into three kinds: rational wish (boulēsis), spirited drive (thymos), and bodily appetite (epithymia). On his account, no creature ever moves itself unless desire and thought work together to set it in motion, which makes orexis the hidden mover behind every step an animal takes and every choice a person makes.
How it traveled
- RepublicAthens · -375explains
- Eudemian EthicsChalcis · -322explains
- Duties of the HeartZaragoza (Saragossa) · 1080synthesis
Key passages(20)
Duties of the Heart · Bachya ben Yosef ibn Pakuda (Chovot HaLevavot) · 1080 CE
שֶׁכַּוָּנַת הַתּוֹרָה לְהַמְשִׁיל הַשֵּׂכֶל בְּכָל תַּאֲווֹת הַנֶּפֶשׁ וּלְהַגְבִּירוֹ עֲלֵיהֶן.
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Duties of the Heart · Bachya ben Yosef ibn Pakuda (Chovot HaLevavot) · 1080 CE
אֲבָל הַכְּנִיעָה הִיא אֲשֶׁר תִּהְיֶה אַחַר רוֹמְמוּת הַנֶּפֶשׁ וְהִתְנַשְּׂאָהּ מֵהִשְׁתַּתֵּף עִם הַבְּהֵמוֹת בְּמִדּוֹתָם הַמְגֻנּוֹת וְגַבְהוּתָהּ מֵהִדַּמּוֹת בְּמִדּוֹת פְּחוּתֵי בְּנֵי אָדָם ב
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Duties of the Heart · Bachya ben Yosef ibn Pakuda (Chovot HaLevavot) · 1080 CE
וְהַשְּׁלִישִׁי כִּי הַתַּאֲוָה מִשְׁתַּמְּשִׁים בָּהּ תָּדִיר בִּמְזוֹן הַגּוּף וְלֹא תִּרְפֶּה מֵהָעֲבוֹדָה לַיְלָה וָיוֹם וְהַשֵּׂכֶל אֵין מִשְׁתַּמְּשִׁים בּוֹ אֶלָּא בְּמָה שֶׁהוּא מֵפִיק לַתַּאֲ
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Legum Allegoriarum Libri I-III · Philo Judaeus