Vocabulary of Christian Spiritual Psychology, Ethical Theories, Virtues, and Transcendentals

A comprehensive collection of vocabulary flashcards covering the eight logismoi, major ethical theories, classical and cardinal virtues, theological virtues, and the transcendentals based on the lecture sources.

Logismoi

Evagrius Ponticus's term for recurring patterns of destructive thoughts that distort perception, desire, and love.

Gastrimargia

The Greek term for Gluttony, defined by Evagrius as a disordered relationship with food and living for bodily pleasure.

Porneia

The Greek term for Lust, defined as disordered sexual desire that distorts love into consumption and uses others as objects.

Philargyria

The Greek term for Avarice or Greed, defined as the love of money and possessions driven by fear of insecurity.

Lype

The Greek term for Sadness, described as spiritual discouragement, bitterness, and resentment when personal desires are frustrated.

Orge

The Greek term for Anger, defined as disordered anger including resentment, hatred, and defense of wounded pride.

Acedia

Often called the "noonday demon" by Evagrius, defined as spiritual apathy, sloth, despair, restlessness, and loss of meaning.

Kenodoxia

The Greek term for Vainglory, defined as the desire for praise, status, and living for the approval of others.

Hyperēphania

The Greek term for Pride, defined as self-exaltation, self-sufficiency, and rejection of dependence on God.

Nepsis

Evagrius's term for watchfulness, defined as the disciplined observation of thoughts without immediately believing them and rejecting destructive thoughts early.

Katharsis

Purity of heart, defined as freedom from domination by destructive thoughts and the restoration of clarity of perception.

Amor curvus in se

Augustine's concept of disordered love, referring to love curved inward on itself.

Ethos

The Greek term meaning character, custom, or way of life, from which the word "ethics" originates.

Meta-Ethics

The branch of ethics examining the nature of morality itself, including the meaning of moral terms and whether moral values are objective or subjective.

Normative Ethics

The branch of ethics that develops moral theories to guide conduct and determine what makes actions morally right or wrong.

Applied Ethics

The branch of ethics examining concrete moral issues in specific domains such as medicine, business, or the environment.

Categorical Imperative

Immanuel Kant's central ethical principle requiring one to act only according to maxims that could be willed as universal laws, and to treat humanity always as an end and never merely as a means.

Principle of Utility

The central utilitarian principle stating that the morally right action is the one that produces the greatest good for the greatest number.

Hedonic Calculus

Jeremy Bentham's proposed method of calculating pleasure based on quantitative factors such as intensity, duration, certainty, and extent.

Euthyphro Problem

A philosophical dilemma originating in Plato's dialogue asking whether something is good because God commands it, or whether God commands it because it is good.

Existence Precedes Essence

Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialist declaration that human beings are not born with a fixed meaning or purpose but must create their essence through action and choice.

Aretē

The Greek word for excellence, referring to fulfilling what a thing or human being was created to be.

Virtus

The Latin root word for virtue, meaning moral strength or excellence.

Eudaimonia

Aristotle's term for the highest human good, translated as human flourishing, true happiness, or living well according to reason and virtue.

Doctrine of the Mean

Aristotle's principle that moral virtue usually exists as a balance between two opposite vices: an excess and a deficiency.

Cardinal Virtues

The four foundational classical virtues—Prudence, Justice, Courage, and Temperance—upon which all other moral virtues hinge.

Prudence

Practical wisdom; the cardinal virtue defined as the ability to know what is good, when it is good, and how to pursue it.

Temperance

The cardinal virtue of self-control that properly orders human desires and pleasures rather than suppressing them.

Theological Virtues

The three virtues—Faith, Hope, and Love—identified by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 that are given as gifts of God's grace rather than acquired solely through practice.

Agapē

The New Testament Greek term for self-giving love, identified in Christianity as the greatest virtue.

Transcendental

In medieval philosophy, a quality or feature (such as Being, Truth, Goodness, or Beauty) that transcends particular categories and belongs to being as such.

Verum

The Latin transcendental term for Truth, defined as reality insofar as it is intelligible or knowable.

Bonum

The Latin transcendental term for Goodness, defined as reality insofar as it is desirable or worthy of love.

Pulchrum

The Latin transcendental term for Beauty, defined as reality insofar as its form, harmony, or splendor produces delight when perceived.

Telos

The Greek term for an end, purpose, or goal toward which a thing is naturally directed.

Ordo Amoris

Augustine's Latin phrase for the "order of love," the idea that virtue requires loving things according to their proper worth.

Forms

Eternal, unchangeable, and perfect intelligible realities in Plato's philosophy, of which physical objects in the world are imperfect instances.

Ladder of Love

Plato's description in the Symposium of the gradual ascent of desire from physical beauty to beautiful souls, practices, knowledge, and ultimately Beauty itself.