From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordLogismos is the activity of reasoning or calculating.
- In StobaeusIn the Hermetic account, reasoning supplies what desire lacks and brings it into a settled relation with soul, producing self-control.
- In this edition“Reasoning” suits the psychic operation; “calculation” belongs where reckoning is foregrounded.
- A place to beginReasoning orders desire and supplies its deficiency.
- English renderings
- reasoning; calculation; deliberative thought
Meaning
Logismos is the activity of reasoning or calculating. It is related to logos but often emphasizes a process or exercise rather than an account or principle.
Use in the book
In the Hermetic account, reasoning supplies what desire lacks and brings it into a settled relation with soul, producing self-control. A separate account associates reasoning with memory gathered through images into universal judgments. These uses explain why calculation is not limited to arithmetic.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
“Reasoning” suits the psychic operation; “calculation” belongs where reckoning is foregrounded.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 321–322, 428. The two selected accounts have distinct settings and should not be combined into one unqualified faculty theory.