Know thyself. That is the Socratic injunction that Augustine uses to guide his thought process throughout his paper entitled, “On the Trinity Book X.” Augustine uses the Socratic injunction as well as logical arguments such as to seek the unknown one must know something about the unknown so it is known in some form. He follows this up by saying since the mind knows itself because it seeks to know itself, but it doesn’t know if it is made of fire or atoms or some bodily object, it is none of these things. Therefore the mind is incorporeal. This is the answer to the question that Augustine sets out to solve in this paper, if the mind is corporeal or incorporeal. I have a problem with it though, couldn’t the mind be both incorporeal and corporeal?? I will address that near the end of the paper.
Augustine uses the Socratic injunction to guide his thought processes throughout his paper. When he says know thyself he is referring to the mind knowing itself. It is essential to his point that the mind seeks out itself. Hence know thy self. The …show more content…
He then precedes to talk about other theories about what the mind is. He says that some people think the mind to be a harmonic body essence, some element such as fire or air, or it could be atoms. He also says that some people think it to be some fifth body but he doesn’t know much about that. But based on what he said earlier, that when you seek the unknown you must know something about the unknown, your mind should know what it is because you are seeking it. If your mind doesn’t know which one it is it must be none of them. Therefore the mind is incorporeal. The Socratic injunction is used again here, know thyself. The mind knows itself in some form, and therefore it must know what it is. When something knows itself it knows something about the unknown that it is
Augustine uses the Socratic injunction to guide his thought processes throughout his paper. When he says know thyself he is referring to the mind knowing itself. It is essential to his point that the mind seeks out itself. Hence know thy self. The …show more content…
He then precedes to talk about other theories about what the mind is. He says that some people think the mind to be a harmonic body essence, some element such as fire or air, or it could be atoms. He also says that some people think it to be some fifth body but he doesn’t know much about that. But based on what he said earlier, that when you seek the unknown you must know something about the unknown, your mind should know what it is because you are seeking it. If your mind doesn’t know which one it is it must be none of them. Therefore the mind is incorporeal. The Socratic injunction is used again here, know thyself. The mind knows itself in some form, and therefore it must know what it is. When something knows itself it knows something about the unknown that it is