- FOLLOWED THE IDEA OF SOCRATES IN KNOWING THYSELF - NOTABLES WORKS ARE: 1. What is "Self"? Related article: "55 phrases of Socrates to understand his thought" Socrates, the philosopher One of the greatest Greek philosophers (in fact the philosophers before him are sometimes called pre-Socratic), Socrates was born in Athens during 470 a.C. , of mother midwife and father sculptor. He was the very first known philosopher to broach the subject of "self". Again, as the seat of knowledge and ignorance, of goodness and badness, the soul, for Socrates, is the essence of the human person. According to Socrates the human life is supposed to be for one to achieve both personal and spiritual growth. in Athens, Greece, Socrates's life is chronicled through only a few sources: the dialogues of Plato (Links to an external site.) Instead, Socrates famously maintained that our true self is our soul. His reflections on the Delphic injunction depicted in the texts studied in this book support a renewed confidence in the value of thinking about self … Although never directly penned by Socrates' as a theory or treatise, our understanding of his philosophies as they relate to wisdom derives from Plato's writings on the subject. An individual will be able to understand their true nature when they examine and reflect on the life they are living. So, when Socrates said that the soul is the essence of the human person, he meant that it is the essence of humans to think and will. He was originally a sculptor who seems to have also had a number of other occupations, … The philosophy class achieved this by encouraging self‐reflection, developing communication skills, and providing a forum for positive prosocial interaction with peers. Semi‐structured interviews with 20 participants of an in‐prison philosophy class in Scotland investigated the personal relevance of engaging in philosophical dialogue. In fact, Socrates said that when we turn inward in search for self-knowledge, we would eventually discover our true self. The soul is the driving force behind body and mind. Socrates was by far one of the most important philosophers. As Socrates said, the human person must see to it that her life is geared towards knowledge of the Good Life. In the 19th century Socrates was regarded as a seminal figure in the evolution of European thought or as a Christ-like herald of a higher existence. He invented the teaching practice of pedagogy, the Socratic method and contributed to the fields of ethics, epistemology and logic. Socrates main contribution to Western philosophy is his method of inquiry that was called after him Socratic method, sometimes also known as elenchus. Without this work on yourself, life is worthless according to Socrates: