EleutherIA — Defined term

Synkatathesis (Stoic Assent)

συγκατάθεσις

Hellenistic

Synkatathesis is the Stoic act of assenting to an impression and is central to Stoic accounts of rational action. Cicero, De fato 39–43, distinguishes the external antecedent condition from a complete or principal causal role and places assent in our power; Aulus Gellius 7.2.6–13 separately transmits the cylinder analogy and appeals to the agent's constitution. These sources help explain how fated impressions and agent-dependent assent were distinguished, but the modal and moral success of the resulting modern “compatibilist” reconstruction remains disputed.

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