Idea

Logos

Reason, word, principle. The rational order that runs through all things, or the capacity in us to perceive it.

Logos means word, speech, reason, and proportion. Heraclitus used it to describe the hidden logic governing the cosmos. The Stoics made it central to their physics: the universe is permeated by a rational fire, a divine logos that orders all things. For Plato and Aristotle, logos is what separates humans from animals. It is both the structure of reality and our ability to grasp it.

Thinkers Who Shaped This Idea

Ancient Greece· 624–262 BCE

Heraclitus

c. 535 BCE – c. 475 BCE

Plato

c. 428 BCE – c. 348 BCE

Aristotle

384 BCE – 322 BCE

Zeno of Citium

c. 334 BCE – c. 262 BCE

Rome & the Stoics· 106 BCE–485 CE

Philo of Alexandria

c. 20 BCE – c. 50 CE

Related Ideas

VirtueJusticeHappinessBeingNatureReasonChangeModerationStoic EthicsNatural LawThe RepublicFaith & Reason