Prohairesis
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Prohairesis is a concept first introduced by Aristotle in the Nicomachean Ethics.
In the philosophy of the Stoic Epictetus, Prohairesis is what distinguishes human beings from all other creatures. It is the faculty that makes us desire or avert, feel impelled or repel something, assent to or dissent about something, according to our own judgements. Epictetus repeatedly says that ‘we are our prohairesis’. He defines it as self-theoretical, impossible to be enslaved, impossible to subordinate, capable of using impressions and understanding their use, -a rational faculty to which all other human faculties are subordinate. Our prohairesis can take two different forms: in accordance with Dihairesis, or in accordance with Counterdihairesis.
