Socrates's Concept of the Self — Transcript

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1. 0:02socrates's concept
2. 0:03of the self
3. 0:07socrates was an ancient greek
4. 0:08philosopher considered to be the
5. 0:10forerunner of western philosophy
6. 0:14he was in particular a scholar teacher
7. 0:17and philosopher who influenced countless
8. 0:20of thinkers throughout generations
9. 0:23his method of questioning famously known
10. 0:26as the socratic method
11. 0:28laid the groundwork for western systems
12. 0:31of logic
13. 0:32in particular and philosophy in general
14. 0:36plato was considered to be his greatest
15. 0:40student
16. 0:41in fact it was plato who wrote his
17. 0:44philosophy
18. 0:46as is well known socrates did not write
19. 0:49anything it was plato who systematically
20. 0:53articulated socrates's philosophy
21. 0:56through his famous dialogues which also
22. 0:59chronicled
23. 1:00socrates's life socrates was eventually
24. 1:04accused of corrupting the youth of
25. 1:06athens and sentenced to death by
26. 1:09drinking hemlock
27. 1:11he could have opted for exile but chose
28. 1:14death instead
29. 1:15it can be surmised that socrates used
30. 1:18his death
31. 1:19as a final lesson for his students to
32. 1:22face the adversities of life
33. 1:24calmly and squarely rather than flee
34. 1:28like chickens and ducks when faced with
35. 1:30storms in life
36. 1:33socrates was fully convinced that
37. 1:36philosophy must obtain
38. 1:37practical results for the greater
39. 1:39well-being of society
40. 1:42and for socrates the very first step
41. 1:45towards the realization of this
42. 1:48goal is the acquisition of wisdom
43. 1:50through
44. 1:51knowing one's self as socrates famously
45. 1:56said
46. 1:57ultimate wisdom comes from knowing
47. 2:00oneself so how does socrates view the
48. 2:05self
49. 2:07the key to understanding socrates's
50. 2:09concept of the self
51. 2:10is through the philosopher's take on the
52. 2:13soul
53. 2:15but socrates's concept of the soul
54. 2:18should not be viewed from the vantage
55. 2:20point of christianity
56. 2:22that is a religious conception of the
57. 2:24soul
58. 2:26it is important to note that the ancient
59. 2:29greeks
60. 2:30lived long before the existence of
61. 2:32christianity
62. 2:33so that for them the concept of the soul
63. 2:36did not have the same religious
64. 2:38connotations that it has for us today
65. 2:42but what does socrates actually mean by
66. 2:45soul
67. 2:48of course we cannot know for certain
68. 2:50what socrates really meant
69. 2:52by the term soul but most scholars in
70. 2:56philosophy
71. 2:56agreed with frederick cobblestone a
72. 2:59famous historian
73. 3:00of philosophy who believes that when
74. 3:03socrates
75. 3:04speaks of the soul the philosopher
76. 3:06refers to
77. 3:07a thinking and willing subject
78. 3:11with this conception of the soul as a
79. 3:14thinking
80. 3:15and willing subject it is safe to assume
81. 3:18that
82. 3:19the soul for socrates is the
83. 3:21intellectual
84. 3:22and moral personality of humans
85. 3:26so when socrates said that the soul is
86. 3:29the essence of the human person he
87. 3:32meant that it is the essence of humans
88. 3:35to think and will
89. 3:38for this reason the soul or the self
90. 3:42for socrates is the responsible agent
91. 3:46in knowing and acting rightly or
92. 3:49wrongly this is because for socrates
93. 3:54the soul is the seat of knowledge and
94. 3:56ignorance
95. 3:57of goodness and badness
96. 4:00again as the seat of knowledge and
97. 4:02ignorance of goodness and badness
98. 4:05the soul for socrates is the essence of
99. 4:09the human person
100. 4:11in other words for socrates the soul is
101. 4:15the person's
102. 4:16true self in fact
103. 4:20socrates said that when we turn inward
104. 4:23in search for self-knowledge
105. 4:25we would eventually discover our true
106. 4:29self viewed from this vantage point
107. 4:33the self is our inner being
108. 4:38now because the soul or the self is the
109. 4:40essence of the human person
110. 4:42and because it constitutes our
111. 4:45personality
112. 4:46socrates urges us to take care
113. 4:49of our soul but
114. 4:52why should we take care of our soul
115. 4:56according to socrates we need to take
116. 5:00care of our soul
117. 5:01to attain the good life
118. 5:04as we can see this is the ultimate goal
119. 5:08of socrates's philosophy
120. 5:11as socrates said the human person
121. 5:14must see to it that her life is geared
122. 5:18towards knowledge of a good life
123. 5:21and for socrates the good life
124. 5:25simply means being wise and virtuous
125. 5:30this explains why for socrates the good
126. 5:33life
127. 5:34is attained through the acquisition of
128. 5:36knowledge
129. 5:37wisdom and virtue
130. 5:41now it is important to note that for
131. 5:43socrates
132. 5:44knowledge of the good life cannot be
133. 5:47acquired
134. 5:48exogenously but endogenously
135. 5:52for this reason it is paramount that we
136. 5:55devote considerable amount
137. 5:57of attention energy and resources
138. 6:00to making our soul as good and beautiful
139. 6:04as possible this conviction is expressed
140. 6:09most
141. 6:09visibly in perhaps socrates's most
142. 6:12famous statement
143. 6:13the unexamined life is not worth
144. 6:17living this gives us
145. 6:20a clear idea of what socrates meant by
146. 6:24knowledge in this context to know
147. 6:27is to know oneself
148. 6:31indeed for us to attain the good life
149. 6:34we need to examine our life
150. 6:38the reason for this is quite obvious
151. 6:41virtue which for socrates is identical
152. 6:44with knowledge
153. 6:45is intrinsic to the human person
154. 6:48and which can be accessed through
155. 6:52self-examination
156. 6:54since virtue is intrinsic to the human
157. 6:57person
158. 6:58socrates was convinced that the human
159. 7:01person
160. 7:02can discover the truth that is
161. 7:05the truth of the good life
162. 7:08and once the human person discovers the
163. 7:11truth
164. 7:12she then does what she thinks is the
165. 7:14right thing to do
166. 7:17thus the famous socratic dictum knowing
167. 7:20what is right is doing what is right
168. 7:26now if knowing what is right is doing
169. 7:29what is right
170. 7:31what about the problem of evil
171. 7:34this seems to be a problem in socrates's
172. 7:37concept of self
173. 7:40socrates seems to think that humans were
174. 7:43angels
175. 7:44that once they know the right thing to
176. 7:47do they
177. 7:48act accordingly of course
178. 7:51socrates was very much aware of the
179. 7:54existence of
180. 7:55evil in the world however
181. 7:58for socrates those who commit evil
182. 8:01acts are ignorant of the truth
183. 8:04they are ignorant in the sense that they
184. 8:07don't have an immediate realization
185. 8:09of the good thus again
186. 8:12examining oneself is the most important
187. 8:16task
188. 8:16one can undertake for it alone
189. 8:19will give her the knowledge necessary to
190. 8:22answer the question
191. 8:24how one ought to live her life
192. 8:29so the famous socratic dictum knowing
193. 8:32what is right is doing what is right
194. 8:35means that once the person knows herself
195. 8:40she may then learn how to take care of
196. 8:43it
197. 8:45finally and contrary to the opinion of
198. 8:48the masses
199. 8:49one's true self according to socrates
200. 8:52should not be identified with what one
201. 8:55owns
202. 8:56with one's social status reputation
203. 8:59or even with one's body
204. 9:02for socrates it is the state of the soul
205. 9:06that is the person's inner being
206. 9:10which determines the quality of one's
207. 9:12life
208. 9:14it's not the money fame elegant clothes
209. 9:17nice house beautiful and expensive car
210. 9:20or
211. 9:21high-tech gadgets that makes life
212. 9:23meaningful
213. 9:24but knowledge wisdom and
214. 9:27virtue therefore
215. 9:31the true self for socrates
216. 9:34is one that is lived in accordance with
217. 9:37knowledge wisdom and virtue
218. 9:42the true self is the virtuous self