Aim / target

Skopos refers to the aim or target toward which an action is directed. The term comes from the vocabulary of archery and observation: the skopos is the point one looks at, aims at, and toward which one directs one’s movement.

In ancient philosophy, and especially in Stoicism, skopos does not simply mean an external objective to be achieved, but the general orientation of action. It must be distinguished from telos, the ultimate end. Telos is what constitutes the final fulfillment of human life, whereas skopos guides concrete choices and actions in everyday situations.

For the Stoics, the telos is living in accordance with nature or reason, while the skopos corresponds to acting correctly here and now, in alignment with that telos. In other words, the skopos is not a guaranteed outcome, but the right orientation of action, regardless of its result.

This distinction is essential: one may miss the external target while having aimed well. An action can fail in its effects without being morally wrong, if the skopos—the rational and upright intention—was correct. What matters, therefore, is not success, but the correctness of one’s aim.

Skopos thus introduces an ethics of orientation rather than of results. It reminds us that what depends on us is not how events turn out, but the direction we give to our judgments, decisions, and actions.

In Stoicism, to live rightly is to maintain a correct skopos: to aim at sound judgment and right action, without tying one’s tranquility to the actual achievement of what one aimed at.