From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordAkinētos denies motion or being moved.
- In StobaeusThe discussion of soul’s activities considers an unmoved actuality that contains activity as the abiding cause of motions.
- In this edition“Unmoved” best preserves the causal contrast.
- A place to beginUnmoved actuality can contain activity as a cause of motions.
- English renderings
- unmoved; motionless; immovable
Meaning
Akinētos denies motion or being moved. An unmoved cause need not therefore be inactive or unable to produce movement in another thing.
Use in the book
The discussion of soul’s activities considers an unmoved actuality that contains activity as the abiding cause of motions. Its argument explicitly allows living functions to proceed from such a source. The report on Aristotle likewise distinguishes soul’s lack of motion in its own right from incidental movement with a body.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
“Unmoved” best preserves the causal contrast. “Immovable” can misleadingly suggest mere physical rigidity unless the context is supplied.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 325, 370. I.49.36.2 is conditional and reports what some maintain; the rejected gloss “from soul” remains marked in the edition.