Skip to content
Unitive Knowledge Society
Search

Accents are optional; quotes find an exact phrase.

Sōphrosynē

Temperance or self-possession: soundness of mind and moderation in desire.

Also: temperance, moderation

Greek philosophy and Neoplatonism

Sōphrosynē, a cardinal virtue, is a sound and balanced mind, master of its appetites. Plato’s Charmides searches for its definition; in the Republic it is the harmony in which the parts of the soul agree that reason should rule.