DiotimosReading Desk

Soul and its destinies

Impulse

ὁρμή

hormē

Hormē denotes an impulse or directed movement toward action.

From the book

Stobaeus, Volume I

John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Browse this book’s lexicon →

Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordHormē denotes an impulse or directed movement toward action.
  • In StobaeusThe report about Aristotle uses impulse together with perception to distinguish animals from plants.
  • In this edition“Impulse” does not necessarily suggest rashness or a momentary whim.
  • A place to beginImpulse belongs to the definition of animal life.
English renderings
impulse; impulsive capacity

Meaning

Hormē denotes an impulse or directed movement toward action. The corresponding adjective can designate the capacity by which a living creature moves.

Use in the book

The report about Aristotle uses impulse together with perception to distinguish animals from plants. The notice on locomotion calls its moving capacity impulsive and states that its first mover is unmoved. In the discussion of Numenius and the Stoics, impulse enters a different explanatory sequence: perception, presentation, and assent are related, with assent said to occur according to impulse.

Places to read

  1. I.45.2Impulse belongs to the definition of animal life.
  2. I.56.1.3The impulsive capacity concerns movement from place to place.
  3. I.49.25.1Impulse enters the reported connection between perception and assent.

Translation in this edition

“Impulse” does not necessarily suggest rashness or a momentary whim. It can name a general power of directed activity.

Source note

Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 298, 349, 496.