Western Thought

Philosophy of Man (Humanities 2)

by Bro. Edilberto “Bert” B. Concordia

THE GREEK PHILOSOPHY OF MAN

Socrates, Plato and Aristotle – taught that the proper way to solve the problem of man is to first inquire
into and discover the true nature of man.

 Like the three oriental Sages, Buddha and Lao Tzu, these Greek philosophers believed that man’s
soul pre-existed his body.
 In his original ideal existence as a soul or pure mind in the realm of ideas, man knew all things by
direct intuition, and had all this knowledge stored in his mind.
 However, because of his banishment into this world of sense, he blurred, or forgot all or most of
what he knew. The solution to his present problems caused mostly by ignorance can be found by
recalling all what he knew clearly in his former existence, hence, Socrates counsels man to know
himself particularly his former omniscient self. He can get all the required data to work put and
solve his present problems and finally regain all his former perfections.

I. SOCRATES (469 B.C.)

 considered as of mankind’s greatest teachers. Rather than confine his teaching to the classroom,
he took to the streets of Athens to meet people and pupils in familiar converse showing himself
as ready to learn as to teach. He used Socratic method in teaching which consists of two
processes; The Ironic and Maieutic processes.

A. SOCRATIC METHOD (Dialectical Method)

1. The IRONIC PROCESS serves to make the seeker after knowledge, clear his mental decks for
action. It rids the mind of prejudices and leads to a humble and sincere confession of ignorance.

2. Having cleared the ground by ironic knowledge, Socrates would employ the second method,
the MAIEUTIC process, to draw truth out of the pupil’s mind. This can be done by means of a
dialogue or conversation. Suppose, for instance that the pupil wished to know the nature of
virtue, Socrates would use the ironic process to clear the mind of the inquirer of all hazy,
inadequate and mistaken notions already formed on the subject, then applying maieutic, he
would engage with the pupil in dialogue, directing the discussion in such a manner that various
examples of what is called virtue would be considered, examined, compared and studied in their
points of resemblances and differences. Gradually there would emerge a clear and precise both
notion of virtue.

 For Socrates the ideas of the mind about maieutic process were implanted and stored by the
divine Creator- Teacher in the mind of man. More specifically, these concepts were gained by the
soul in its former existence in the realm of ideas, before its imprisonment in the body.
B. MAN AND VIRTUE

 Virtue is a natural endowment, not an artificial convention or habit of action to be acquired by

education. Virtue may indeed be taught, but this is to be understood not as introducing something
foreign to the mind but rather as merely awakening the seeds of good deeds that perhaps lie
dormant in the mind and heart of man.
 Since virtue is inborn in the mind and self-knowledge is the source of all wisdom, then the only
way to acquire virtue is simply to know what is in the mind, in the self. Virtue depends on
knowledge and could be defined as TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF ONE’S SELF.
 Socratic saying: “Knowledge is virtue, ignorance is vice.”
 To Socrates, man’s body comes from this world of matter, but his reason comes from the
universal reason or mind of the world.
 In his dialectical/Socratic method, he sought to discover the good life. He stressed the value of
the soul, in the sense of the thinking and willing subject, and he saw clearly the importance of
knowledge, of true wisdom, if the soul is to be properly tended.
 According to him, knowledge leads the way to ethical action. To him knowledge and virtue are
one, in the sense that the wise man, he knows what is right, will also do what is right.
 Virtue or true knowledge is not theoretical and speculative, it is practical, it is applied. This holds
true especially in the field of human conduct. Man must not only know the rules of right living, he
should live them.
 The wise man, the superior man, the moral man does not only know the meaning of virtue, he
should lead and live a virtuous life. To Socrates, true knowledge means wisdom which in turn
means virtue.

C. MAN AND THE PROBLEM OF EVIL

 According to Socrates – evil is the result of ignorance, the opposite of knowledge. A man
does evil because he does not know any better, or that his knowledge is inadequate or
imperfect.
 The great problem of evil, which is mostly moral evil is due to ignorance or limitation or
imperfection of man’s present knowledge.
 Oftentimes, we do evil despite our knowledge of the good. Many minds equipped with
all the knowledge in the world lead immoral lives. As the poet Ovid sings: “we know the
better course, but we often choose to do worse.”

Christian Thought: Knowledge is different from wisdom. To be knowledgeable and intelligent is far
different from being wise. Knowledge and intelligence can be use in doing something evil. Wisdom is
only used in doing something good. A wise man is different from an intelligent or knowledgeable man.