Pneuma of hearing

Auditory extension — temples / ears

The pneumatic extension of hearing. Aetius IV.16 attributes to the Stoics a doctrine of audition by which sound is a vibration of air that strikes the auditory pneuma, propagating its pattern back along the extension to the hēgemonikon. We render this point at the left-temple landmark as a single bilateral marker; the rendered convention treats the two ears as paired termini of one extension, mirroring the visual case but reduced to a single point for legibility.

HēgemonikonPneuma of sight (right eye)Pneuma of sight (left eye)Pneuma of hearingPneuma of hearingPneuma of smellPneuma of tastePneuma of touchPneuma of voice (phōnē)Pneuma of generation

Point 4 of 9 in Stoic Hēgemonikon — Central Commanding Faculty + Seven Pneumatic Extensions

Cross-tradition overlaps

No overlapping points are registered for this point.

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Sources

Aetius, Placita IV.16 (primary_canonical)

“The Stoics say that hearing arises when the air between the speaker and the listener is struck in spherical form, then waves and falls upon the ears.”

Diogenes Laertius, Lives VII.157 (primary_canonical)

Diogenes Laertius VII.157 gives the Stoic eight-part account of soul, including the sense faculties and vocal and generative powers. Here it documents the sense-extension topology used for hearing, while the exact auditory mechanism is supplied by the adjacent doxographical citation.

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