Concept
Enkrateia
Overview
In Ancient Greek philosophy, enkrateia (Greek ἐνκράτεια, "in power - from ἐν (en, “in”) + κράτος (krátos, “power”) is a state of power over something, usually a state of self-control and self-mastery where one holds power over one's own passions and instincts. It was first used in the context of self-control by three of Socrates' students: Isocrates, Xenophon and Plato.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
The first expression of this was some element, rarefied by degrees into a pure abstraction, and purged from any tincture of sense. Soon an inner world of ideas began to be unfolded, more absorbing, more overpowering, more abiding than the brightest of visible objects, which to the eye of the philosopher looking inward, seemed to pale before them, retaining only a faint and precarious existence. At the same time, the…
Plato, Timaeus
The author is tied to Enkrateia in the knowledge graph.
Hence, what follows in Socrates’ life is not contingent, but necessarily follows upon his principle. Or the honour of having recognized that relation, and indeed of having felt that they themselves were tinged with this principle, is due to the Athenians.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy
Close in meaning to Enkrateia; the term itself is not named.
The fourth is the Lacedaemonian; and this, in few words, is nothing more than an hereditary generalship: and in these particulars they differ from each other. There is a fifth species of kingly government, which is when one person has a supreme power over all things whatsoever, in the manner that every state and every city has over those things which belong to the public: for as the master of a family is king in his…
Aristotle, Politics
The author is tied to Enkrateia in the knowledge graph.
Philosophers who discussed Enkrateia
Related ideas
- Ancient Greek
- Isocrates
- Ancient Greek philosophy
- Sophia (wisdom)
- Eudaimonia
- Monism
- New Testament
- Original sin
- Plato
- Socrates
- Aristotle
- Bible
- Xenophon
- Gregory of Nyssa
- Virtue
- Akrasia
Place in the tradition
Part of Socrates.