Translation of a greek word in Stoic thought

Question

I'm reading this article on Ariston of Chios. On the 9th page of the article Schofield uses " ἡγεμονιχόν", stating that the "What Ariston had noticed was that, although committed to a plurality of virtues, the Stoics nonetheless were content to identify just one condition of the ἡγεμονιχόν as constituting ενφνια, excellence of natural endowment."

What does this greek word translate to in English? I suspect that it is something like "commanding faculty of the soul", but I'd like to be sure.

The subtleties of Ancient Greek can be lost in the modern tongue, but according to my close Greek friend it transliterates to "hegemonichon," which sounds a lot like "hegemony." Hegemony is basically authority or sovereignty, and the "monichon" sounds like "monos" or "monachos," "alone." He reckons the word refers to the idea of being a sovereign individual, in control of one's own thoughts and actions. — stoicfury, Jan 13 '13 at 00:13

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 10 '13 at 22:22

3

According to the Stoic theory, there are eight parts of the soul, the "commanding faculty","ἡγεμονιχόν", or mind, the five senses, voice and certain aspects of reproduction. The mind, which is located at the heart, is a center that controls the other soul-parts as well as the body, and that receives and processes information supplied by the subordinate parts.

answered Jan 10 '13 at 22:22

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So the correct translation would be something like "Mind"? – Dennis Jan 10 '13 at 22:24
yes, the commanding faculty of the soul, the mind. – Annotations Jan 10 '13 at 22:29
Ok, thanks much. Since the author uses "commanding faculty of the soul" elsewhere, I'll stick to that. – Dennis Jan 10 '13 at 22:30

Translation of a greek word in Stoic thought

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