Sophrosyne () is an
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
concept of an
ideal of
excellence of character and
soundness
In logic and deductive reasoning, an argument is sound if it is both Validity (logic), valid in form and has no false premises. Soundness has a related meaning in mathematical logic, wherein a Formal system, formal system of logic is sound if and o ...
of
mind
The mind is that which thinks, feels, perceives, imagines, remembers, and wills. It covers the totality of mental phenomena, including both conscious processes, through which an individual is aware of external and internal circumstances ...
, which when combined in one well-balanced individual leads to other qualities, such as
temperance,
moderation,
prudence
Prudence (, contracted from meaning "seeing ahead, sagacity") is the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason. It is classically considered to be a virtue, and in particular one of the four cardinal virtues (which are, ...
, purity,
decorum, and
self-control
Self-control is an aspect of inhibitory control, one of the core executive functions. Executive functions are cognitive processes that are necessary for regulating one's behavior in order to achieve specific goals.
Defined more independen ...
. An adjectival form is "sophron".
It is similar to the concepts of () of Chinese
Confucianism
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, Religious Confucianism, religion, theory of government, or way of li ...
and () of Indian thought.
Ancient Greek literature
In
Ancient Greek literature, sophrosyne is considered an important quality and is sometimes contrasted with
hubris. A noted example of this occurs in Homer's ''
The Iliad''. When
Agamemnon decides to take the queen
Briseis away from
Achilles
In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus () was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's ''Iliad'', he was the son of the Nereids, Nereid Thetis and Peleus, ...
, it is seen as Agamemnon behaving with hubris and lacking sophrosyne.
In Homer's ''
Odyssey
The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...
'',
Odysseus
In Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology, Odysseus ( ; , ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; ), is a legendary Greeks, Greek king of Homeric Ithaca, Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, epic poem, the ''Odyssey''. Od ...
avoids being turned into an animal by
Circe
In Greek mythology, Circe (; ) is an enchantress, sometimes considered a goddess or a nymph. In most accounts, Circe is described as the daughter of the sun god Helios and the Oceanid Perse (mythology), Perse. Circe was renowned for her vast kn ...
the enchantress by means of a magical herb,
moly (symbolizing, by some accounts, sophrosyne), given to him by
Athena
Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...
(Wisdom) and
Hermes (Reason).
Heraclitus
Heraclitus (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the Achaemenid Empire, Persian Empire. He exerts a wide influence on Western philosophy, ...
's fragment 112 states:
Themes connected with sophrosyne and hubris figure prominently in plays of
Aeschylus
Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...
,
Sophocles
Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...
, and
Euripides
Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...
. Sophrosyne is recognized as a virtue, although debased forms of it, like prudery, are criticized. Sophrosyne is a theme in the play ''
Hippolytus'' by
Euripides
Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...
, in which sophrosyne is represented by the goddess
Artemis
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of the hunting, hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. In later tim ...
and is personified by the character
Hippolytus.
Goddess
The poet
Theognis of Megara mentions Sophrosyne as among the
daimona that were released from
Pandora's box.
Hope is the only good god remaining among mankind;
the others have left and gone to Olympus.
Trust, a mighty god has gone, Restraint (''Sophrosyne'') has gone from men,
and the Graces, my friend, have abandoned the earth.
Plato
Sophrosyne is an important topic for
Plato
Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...
. 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. The ability to manage with temperance and with
justice
In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...
(σωφρόνως καὶ δικαίως) is offered as a definition of virtue in the
Meno
''Meno'' (; , ''Ménōn'') is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato around 385 BC., but set at an earlier date around 402 BC. Meno begins the dialogue by asking Socrates whether virtue (in , '' aretē'') can be taught, acquired by practice, o ...
(73a). Plato's view of sophrosyne is related to Pythagorean (
''Republic'' 430e−432a, 442c) and closely linked with Plato’s
tripartite division of the soul: sophrosyne is the harmonious moderation of the appetitive and spirited parts of the soul by the rational part (e.g.,
''Phaedrus'' 237c−238e).
Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
included discussions of sophrosyne
in his pioneering system of
virtue ethics
Virtue ethics (also aretaic ethics, from Greek []) is a philosophical approach that treats virtue and moral character, character as the primary subjects of ethics, in contrast to other ethical systems that put consequences of voluntary acts, pri ...
.
Aristotle believed sophrosyne described "a
mean
A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...
with regard to pleasures," distinct from
self-indulgence
Hedonism is a family of philosophical views that prioritize pleasure. Psychological hedonism is the theory that all human behavior is motivated by the desire to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. As a form of egoism, it suggests that peop ...
on the one hand, or perhaps
anhedonia on the other. Like courage, sophrosyne is a virtue concerning our discipline of "the irrational parts of our nature" (fear, in the case of courage; desire, in the case of sophrosyne).
His discussion is found in the ''
Nicomachean Ethics
The ''Nicomachean Ethics'' (; , ) is Aristotle's best-known work on ethics: the science of the good for human life, that which is the goal or end at which all our actions aim. () It consists of ten sections, referred to as books, and is closely ...
'' 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).
As with virtue generally, sophrosyne is a sort of habit, acquired by practice. It is a state of character, not a passion or a faculty, specifically a disposition to choose the
mean
A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...
between excess and deficit. The mean is hard to attain, and is grasped by perception, not by reasoning.
Pleasure in doing virtuous acts is a sign that one has attained a virtuous disposition. Sophrosyne is the alignment of our desires with what will produce ''
eudaimonia
Eudaimonia (; ) is a Greek word literally translating to the state or condition of ''good spirit'', and which is commonly translated as ''happiness'' or ''Well-being, welfare''.
In the works of Aristotle, ''eudaimonia'' was the term for the hig ...
'', such that we desire to do what is best for our own flourishing.
After Aristotle
For the Stoic,
Zeno of Citium
Zeno of Citium (; , ; c. 334 – c. 262 BC) was a Hellenistic philosophy, Hellenistic philosopher from Kition, Citium (, ), Cyprus.
He was the founder of the Stoicism, Stoic school of philosophy, which he taught in Athens from about 300 BC. B ...
, sophrosyne is one of the four chief virtues. Later Stoics like
Musonius Rufus,
Seneca,
Epictetus, and
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( ; ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ...
took a practical view of sophrosyne and share a definition of it as the restraint of the appetites.
Demophilus, a Pythagorean philosopher of uncertain date, wrote:
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...
considered four Latin terms to translate sophrosyne: (
temperance), (moderateness), (modesty), and (frugality). Through the writings of
Lactantius,
St. Ambrose and
St. Augustine, the virtue's meaning as temperance or "proper mixture" became the dominant view in subsequent Western European thought.
Sophrosyne, according to
St. Thomas Aquinas, is the fourth and final
cardinal virtue.
It is also mentioned in the work ''On Virtues'' () by Georgios
Gemistos Plethon.
See also
*
Seven virtues
References
Further reading
*
*
{{Authority control
Concepts in ancient Greek ethics
Concepts in ancient Greek philosophy of mind
Greek goddesses
Personifications in Greek mythology
Religious ethics
Virtue
Words and phrases with no direct English translation