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Views of Self:

Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle

BA Communication Film Media 1

Pogoy, Emmanuel

Galaura, Trixie

Monsanto, Angelou

Nieves, April

Tabada, Rhina
V i e w s o f S e l f : S o c r a t e s , P l a t o , a n d A r i s t o t l e

The View of Socrates:

Socrates’ most famous statement is: “an unexamined life is not worth living for the
human beings” (Apology 38a). He made one of the most famous proclamations in the history
of philosophy as he was sentenced to his death. The phrase that escaped from his mouth begs
to be questioned and probed in regards to whose life should be examined, why and how. The
statement of Socrates that underlined his beliefs - his soul.

Life of Socrates

Socrates was a Greek philosopher, who later on became the main source of Western
thought - which is called Socratic Method. His life is known for his students, including Plato and
Xenophon, recorded it through their writings. He was born circa 470 B.C. in Athens, Greece of
an Athenian stone mason and sculptor for a father and a midwife for a mother.

Socrates was not the ideal of Athenian masculinity, he was short and stocky, with a snub
nose and bulging eyes that seemed to appear to be staring - as Plato detailed in his Symposium.
But Socrates possessed a different kind of attractiveness, his brilliant debates and penetrating
thought.

399 B.C., Socrates stood before a jury of 500 of his fellow Athenians accused of refusing to
recognize the gods recognized by the state and of corrupting the youth. He was found guilty
by a vote of 280 to 220. He then was given the opportunity to suggest his own punishment, to
be exiled rather than to be executed. His first recommendation, which is a sarcastic remark, is
for him to be rewarded for his actions, and the second one is for him to be fined a modest sum
of money. But the jury selected death for him, Athenian law prescribed death by drinking a cup
of poison hemlock. Socrates was his own executioner - it was the suicide of Socrates.

The Unexamined Life

“The unexamined life is not worth living…” calls to be reflect upon, a statement that
insisted to be acknowledge, and some scholar did. For them it gives emphasis to Socrates’ view
on human nature, to live by an examined life that follows the nature of human beings: we are
naturally directed by pleasure and pain, drawn to power, wealth and reputation. Socrates’
examined life is not becoming entirely behest to reject such motivations and longing but rather
to be an authority that would help humans to revolve to their true nature; to become exactly
the worth of their human soul.

People does not entirely open their selves or consciously question how they should live their
life. They’d rather go with the flow as if their life rides with the currents of the sea, they depend
their life based on their cultural values and social norms which they unquestionably rely to. But
according to Socrates, to question how they should live their life is very important for it leads to
the improvement of one’s life. The key to this path is self-knowledge, to examine the self for its
true nature and the values that will guide one’s life. “…once we know ourselves, we may learn
how to take care for ourselves, but otherwise we never shall.” (First Alcibiades).

One’s true self does not rely to the identity of what we own, with our social status, our
reputation, or even with our physical body. As Socrates instead, a person’s true self is the soul.
But his idea of the soul does not limit to the ideas of Christianity; his concept of soul is not
specified, but famous historian of philosophy Frederick Copelston wrote that Socrates was
referring to the soul as “the thinking and willing subject.” Our soul, or our inner being,
determines the quality of our life and so, according to Socrates, it is important to obtain
goodness and beauty with all effort, attention, energy and resources. Knowing what is good and
what is bad, to cultivate the good within one’s soul and purge the evil out. However, Socrates
believes that true goodness and true evil doesn’t simply stay between wealth, status, pleasure,
social acceptance, and poverty, death, pain, social rejection. Not knowing what the true form
of this forces will lead to aimlessly chasing fake happiness. There is one supreme good that
Socrates claimed and it will secure happiness, true happiness, and that supreme good is virtue.
He stated that virtue alone is capable of securing one’s happiness that even death is insignificant.

The View of Plato:

In the Phaedrus, Plato illustrated his view of the self in the Allegory of the Chariot, which
was a mouthpiece by Socrates. In the dialogue it explains how the nature of the human soul (the
Greek word is psyche) is tripartite. The metaphor goes as: the chariot is pulled by two powerful
horses, a white horse and a black horse. The charioteer is tasked to guide the chariot as
he/she controls the two independent-minded horses.

Life of Plato

Born circa 428 B.C.E., Plato’s was a student of Socrates and put wrote about Socrates’
teachings through dialogues that discusses with other students. His writings explore justice,
beauty and equality, and also contained discussion in aesthetics, political philosophy, theology,
cosmology, epistemology and the philosophy of language. The first institution of higher
learning in the Western World, Academy in Athens, is founded by Plato. His death came circa
348 B.C.E..

The Tripartite
 Plato’s belief is that humans, same as the soul, is tripartite that can be broken down into
three parts: the body, the mind, and the soul.

The body is the physical part of the human that is only concerned with the material world,
and through this part, it experiences the world that it lives in, like how it wants to experience
self-gratification. The body is mortal, and so when it dies it is truly dead.

The mind which is the immortal part of the human, directs itself in the heavenly realm of
Ideas or Forms. The mind is able to understand this realm. When the physical body, which is the
mortal part, dies the mind transcends and goes back to the heavenly realm (the Forms: Logical,
Metaphysical, Epistemological, and Moral).

The soul is the driving force of the body; it gives identity to the human. It is the self.

The Tripartite Structure of the Soul

Plato, is a dualist, he believes that humans are divided into three parts and the soul is one
of those parts. For him, the soul exist before birth and after birth, and is tripartite same as the
humans. His dialogues, in Republic and Phaedrus, introduced the idea of the self (soul) and its
three parts: reason, appetite, and will.

Reason is the divine essence that enables the humans to think deeply, to be able to make
wise choices, and to achieve a true understanding of eternal truths.

Appetite (physical urges) is the basic biological needs of man, such as hunger, thirst, and
sexual desires.

Will is the source of love, anger, indignation, ambition, aggression, empathy, et cetera.

The Allegory of the Chariot

 The chariot symbolizes as the reason and the two horses materializes will and appetite. The
task of the reason is to guide the will and the appetite. When the three aspects aren’t in harmony
humans experience mental, physical, personal, intellectual, and spiritual conflict, the reason
could maintain both horses in the same path or it resides either of the two, or for it to have a
complete harmony between the two - and if it is successful to finding harmonious unity the
human will achieve true wisdom. But one’s true self differ as to which part is predominant by
their nature. Individuals that are dominated by reason seeks are philosophical and
knowledgeable; those who are dominated by will are victory loving and desires for reputation;
and individuals that are dominated by appetite are profit loving and attentive to gain material
things.

The View of Aristotle:

Aristotle believed that human beings consist of body and soul, and that the soul could never
separate from the body - the soul of a human being is the form or being-ness of the human body.

Life of Aristotle

Born circa 384 B.C. in Stagira, Aristotle was an Ancient Greek philosopher and scientist who
is considered to be be one of the greatest thinkers in the area of politics, psychology, and ethics.
At the age of seventeen he was enrolled in the Academy in Athens, having Plato as his teacher.
Circa 338 B.C.E. Aristotle begun to tutor the then 13-year-old Alexander the Great. 335 B.C.E.
He founded his own school, the Lyceum, in Athens, where he spent most of the rest of his life
studying, teaching, and writing.
Body and Soul

For Aristotle the soul is not an entity or separate “part” that will travel out of the physical
realm when the body dies, the soul is linked and defined by its relationship to an organic
structure - the body. In his belief, humans are not the only one who have the soul but animals
and plants too. Aristotle said that e, this talks about the capacity of the “being” to self-sustain,
to grow, and to reproduce. He believes that the souls of the living creatures are ordered in a
hierarchy where plants have the vegetative or nutritive soul, which has the power of growth,
nutrition, and reproduction. The animals who have the sensitive soul, in addition, have the
power of perception and locomotion. And the humans who have, in addition, the power of
reason and thought - the rational soul.

Aristotle disregards the idea of Plato that talked about the tripartite of the soul, for him the
soul does have parts but these parts aren’t the self but merely faculties or factors that are used
in different operations and subjects. For him the soul is a form of a living thing, the actuality of
it - the self.

Aristotle’s accounts states that the soul (self) is not a material object or entity that is
separable from the body, it is entrapped in it and it is the representation of the actuality of the
body. The soul is also a capacity, not the thing that has capacity.

References:

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