Hexis
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Hexis (ἕξις) is a Greek word, important in the philosophy of Aristotle, and because of this it has become a traditional word of philosophy. It stems from a verb related to possession or "having", and Jacob Klein, for example, translates it as "possession". It is more typically translated in modern texts as "state" (e.g. Rackham) but "disposition" is perhaps a less controversial choice. Joe Sachs however, who in the tradition of Klein tries to be as literal as possible, translates it as "active condition", in order to make sure that hexis is not confused with passive conditions of the soul such as feelings and impulses or mere capacities that belong to us by nature. Sachs points to Aristotle's own distinction, explained for example in Categories 8b, that the word diathesis, normally uncontroversially translated as disposition, is only for passive and shallow dispositions that are easy to remove and change, such as being hot or cold, while hexis is reserved for deeper and more active dispositions, such as properly getting to know something in a way that it will not be easily forgotten. Another common example of a human hexis in Aristotle is health (hugieia, but good condition can be euhexia in Greek) and in cases where hexis is discussed in the context of health, it is sometimes translated as "constitution".
