Philosophy:Enkrateia

Short description: Virtuous self-control

Xenophon was one of the first to write about enkrateia.

Enkrateia (Greek ἐγκράτεια, "in power - from ἐν (en, “in”) + κράτος (krátos, “power”). Enkrateia comes from the adjective enkratês (ἐγκρατής from ἐν (en, “in”) which means possession, power over something or someone else + κράτος (krátos, “power”)). It results in the meaning of power over yourself, power over your own passions and instincts, self-control and self-mastery.

During Socrates' life three of his disciples, Isocrates, Xenophon and Plato, transformed the adjective enkratês to the noun enkrateia and gave it a different meaning: with them, enkrateia meant not power over something or someone else but power over yourself, power over your own passions and instincts, self-control.

For Aristotle, enkrateia is the antonym of akrasia (ἀκρασία from ἀ = without + κράτος = power, control) which means "lacking command (over oneself)". In this sense, enkrateia is the state of performing what is known to be a positive choice because of its positive consequences as opposed to akrasia, which is the state of performing what is known to be not a positive choice (because of its negative consequences), but nevertheless performing it because of its immediate pleasures.

To Xenophon, enkrateia is not a particular virtue but "the foundation of all virtues".

Enkrateia is mentioned thrice in the New Testament, in the lists of virtues in Acts 24:25, Galatians 5:23, and 2 Peter 1:6. The King James Version renders the word "Temperance (virtue)."