Socrates

Socrates was the first thinker in Western history to focus the full power of reason on the human
self: who we are, who we should be, and who we will become. Socrates was convinced that, in addition
to our physical bodies, each person possesses an immortal soul that survives beyond the death of the
body.

For Socrates, the foundation to know the self is through his metaphysics or his conception of the
nature of reality, which is dualistic, made up of two dichotomous realms. One realm is changeable,
transient, and imperfect, whereas the other realm is unchanging, eternal, immortal. The physical world
in which we live—comprising all that we can see, hear, taste, smell, and feel—belongs to the former
realm. All aspects of our physical world are continually changing, transforming, and disappearing.

In contrast, the unchanging, eternal, perfect realm includes the intellectual essences of the
universe, concepts such as truth, goodness, and beauty. We find examples of these ideal forms in the
physical world—for example, we might describe someone as truthful, good, or beautiful. But these
examples are always imperfect and limited: It is only the ideal forms themselves that are perfect,
unchanging, and eternal.

This metaphysical scheme of Socrates has a profound impact on the way the self is understood.
For Socrates, our bodies belong to the physical realm: They change, they’re imperfect, they die. Our
souls, however, belong to the ideal realm: They are unchanging, and immortal, surviving the death of
the body.

And although a close relationship exists between our souls and our bodies, they are radically
different entities. Our souls strive for wisdom and perfection, and reason is the soul’s tool to achieve
this exalted state. But as long as the soul is tied to the body, this quest for wisdom is inhibited by the
imperfection of the physical realm, as the soul is “dragged by the body into the region of the
changeable,” where it “wanders and is confused” in a world that “spins round her, and she is like a
drunkard.” But reason is a powerful tool, enabling the soul to free itself from the corrupting
imperfection of the physical realm and achieve “communion with the unchanging.”

Source: John Chaffee, The Philosopher’s Way: Thinking Critically about Profound Ideas, 5th ed.