Pathos (πάθος)

pathos • PAH-thos
Greek Ethics Browse P

Meaning

Passion or suffering; an irrational and unnatural movement of the soul.

In practice: Disturbing emotions like anger, fear, or lust that cloud reason.

Examples & notes

  • The Stoics sought to eradicate pathē to reach a state of apatheia.
  • A pathos is a judgment that an indifferent thing is actually a good or an evil.

Seen in

Zeno of Citium Chrysippus

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