From the book
Stobaeus, Volume II
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordAversion opposes rational impulse in the sphere of not acting; this action-related sense differs from the avoidance or shunning employed in the account of fear.
- In StobaeusThe surviving opposition establishes the term, while a marked supplement supplies much of its parallel definition; the explanatory restoration must remain visibly distinct from transmitted wording.
- In this editionRetain action-related aversion and distinguish avoidance in fear; an editorially completed definition should not appear to provide wholly surviving evidence for every detail of the explanation.
- A place to readChapter 7 · Excerpt 9 · Passage 2 Distinguish the surviving noun and opposition from the supplemented completion of the parallel definition; this short paragraph does not securely transmit an entire general psychological theory.
- English renderings
- aversion; movement away from action
Meaning
Aphormē is opposed to hormē in the account of rational movement. Here it concerns thought moving away in the sphere of not acting, rather than every dislike or fear.
Use in the book
The text defines rational impulse as movement toward something in action and places aversion opposite it. Much of the explanatory definition of aversion is editorially supplied; the surviving noun and its opposition to impulse remain the direct textual witness. The account later says impulse has several senses and aversion two. Its use in distinguishing altogether indifferent things concerns whether an object stimulates approach or withdrawal. The term should not be silently merged with ekklisis, the avoidance or shunning used in definitions of fear.
The opening proposes how rational impulse could properly be defined, presenting a deliberate conceptual formulation. Aversion is placed in opposition to that movement. Much of the mirror-image explanation lies in the supplied span, however, so it cannot independently prove every detail of a wholly surviving definition. Lexical evidence and explanatory restoration coexist: the term and its opposition remain secure, while the printed reconstruction retains its limits. The action-related setting also distinguishes this paragraph from the separate taxonomy in which avoidance is used to explain fear.
“Opposed to it is aversion” (Chapter 7 · Excerpt 9 · Passage 2).
Places to read
- Chapter 7 · Excerpt 9 · Passage 22Aversion is opposed to rational impulse; the longer gloss is supplied.
- Chapter 7 · Excerpt 9 · Passage 32Two senses of aversion are acknowledged.
- Chapter 7 · Excerpt 7 · Passage 22Altogether indifferent things stimulate neither impulse nor aversion.
Translation in this edition
Retain “aversion” for ἀφορμή and explain the action-related sense locally.
ἀφορμήν
Attested. Chapter 7 · Excerpt 9 · Passage 2; Wachsmuth II, printed p. 87.
τι τῶν ἐν τῷ πράττειν· ταύτῃ δ’ ἀντιτίθεσθαι ἀφορμήν, φοράν τινα ⟨διανοίας ἀπό τινος τῶν ἐν τῷ μὴ πράττειν⟩.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume II, printed pp. 79, 87. The article’s witness is the unsupplied noun; the supplied completion of its definition is not presented as independently transmitted wording.