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19 entries tagged philosophy · 19 terms.


Dictionary

Anachoresis

Greek for 'withdrawal' or 'retreat'; the disciplined practice of stepping back from constant availability so that judgment, prayer, and self-recovery have room to happen.

Anamnesis

From the Greek anamnesis, the calling-to-mind that is also a making-present; covenantal remembrance, distinct from mere recall, as in 'this do in remembrance of me.'

Autarkeia

The Greek noun for self-sufficiency, used by the Stoics as the goal of a virtuous life and by Paul as the contentment that is learned in Christ rather than supplied by circumstance.

Avodah

The Hebrew word that holds work, service, and worship in a single term, naming labor as vocation rather than mere output.

Circumspection

The practical wisdom of looking carefully around oneself before acting, weighing the ground, the moment, and the consequences of the next step.

Dokimazo

The discipline of testing something to prove whether it is genuine before trusting it, from the Greek word for assaying metal and coins.

Enframing

The condition, described by philosopher Martin Heidegger, in which modern technology causes us to perceive everything, including human beings, as a resource to be ordered, stored, and dispatched on demand.

Enkrateia

Greek for self-mastery: the active exercise of inner rule over one's own power, distinct from temperate disposition.

Kairos

The Greek word for the right or opportune moment, distinct from chronos, the sequential time a calendar tracks.

Magnanimity

The classical and Christian virtue of being great-souled, of pursuing greatness in a way that is rightly ordered toward the good rather than toward appetite or display.

Nepsis

Greek for watchfulness or sobriety of spirit: the disciplined inner attention that notices when the heart is being pulled and refuses to follow without examination.

Parresia

Greek for bold, open, public speech, saying what is true in the open square without fear, especially when the cost of saying it is real.

Phronesis

The Greek word for practical wisdom, the capacity to deliberate well about what is good and expedient in the actual circumstances of a life, distinguished by Aristotle from theoretical knowledge and from craft skill.

Pleonexia

The Greek term for the disposition to grasp for more than one's share, used in classical political philosophy and the New Testament as the root vice behind structural consolidation.

Prudence

The classical and biblical virtue of practical wisdom: the capacity to discern the right course of action in a particular situation, grounded in foresight and governed by right judgment rather than impulse.

Sophrosune

Greek for sound-mindedness, temperance, and self-restraint; the cardinal virtue that names the discipline of knowing what is enough and stopping there.

Techne

The Greek word for applied craft or skill, distinguished from theoretical knowledge, used in Scripture and philosophy to name the embodied capacity to make something well.

Telos

The end, purpose, or final aim a thing is ordered toward; the goal that gives an action or an institution its coherence.

Vainglory

The classical-Christian vice of empty glory, the love of being recognized as great, distinguished from pride, which loves the superiority itself.