From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordLogikos characterizes what possesses or belongs to reason; alogos marks its absence.
- In StobaeusThe plant notice distinguishes animals with impulse and perception from the subset that also has reason.
- In this edition“Nonrational” often clarifies a classificatory absence of reason; “irrational” follows established phrasing where a psychic part is under discussion.
- A place to beginReason belongs to some animals in the reported classification.
- English renderings
- rational; nonrational; irrational
Meaning
Logikos characterizes what possesses or belongs to reason; alogos marks its absence. “Irrational” in this setting need not mean foolish or behaving contrary to one’s own judgment.
Use in the book
The plant notice distinguishes animals with impulse and perception from the subset that also has reason. The Hermetic account attaches desire and spirit to human soul while describing the soul of nonrational creatures through those two powers. Plato’s Republic excerpt distinguishes the calculating or rational element from appetite. Classification of creatures and analysis of one soul thus use related language at different levels.
Places to read
- I.45.2Reason belongs to some animals in the reported classification.
- I.49.5.4Human and nonrational souls are distinguished.
- I.49.30.4Reason and appetite are separated within soul.
- I.49.31.1The reasoning element is distinguished from appetite and spirit.
- Arith.4The related term logistikē names calculation.
Translation in this edition
“Nonrational” often clarifies a classificatory absence of reason; “irrational” follows established phrasing where a psychic part is under discussion.
The reasoning element
Logistikon names the reasoning element of the soul. In I.49.31.1, the Republic distinguishes it from appetite and asks whether spirit forms a third element naturally allied with reason. The nearby civic comparison clarifies functions without equating every person with only one part. The related feminine logistikē elsewhere means the art of calculation, a distinct contextual use.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 18, 298, 323, 361–362.