It is one of the most famous phrases from ancient Greece. Nosce te ipsum (“Know thyself”) It was a kind of motto that in a way summarized the wisdom of the time, represented by great thinkers such as Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Plato or Socrates.
Currently it works as a call for introspection in a society full of news and tailored algorithms.
The origins of the phrase are almost mythological. It was probably carved on the gable of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, a sacred place where Greeks from all over Hellas consulted the oracle on private and public matters. And it appears in the works of several authors from ancient Greece.
However, It was Plato who made him very famous because, according to the website, he used it in several of his dialogues as a genuine call to self-knowledge Surf pajamas. He adds: “Socrates repeatedly exhorts us to engage in self-knowledge before attempting to penetrate the mysteries of mythology and the gods.”
The phrase, repeated over centuries, was used by various thinkers of almost all eras and served as an inspiration for pop composers. For philosophy media and blogs, it is a simple invitation to self-reflection and at the same time an ethical requirement that makes one uncomfortable.
The words Nosce te ipsum They are actually the Latin translation of the Greek aphorism Gnóthi Sauton (“Know Thyself”), which, as we said, was engraved in the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. In ancient Greece, those who came to ask the gods were first asked to think about themselves. This would suggest that the Greeks linked the Goal with the ability to investigate own character.
For Socrates, as presented by Plato, the phrase is the basis of a Life program. Socrates often urged his students to first acknowledge their ignorance and then subject their opinions to rational scrutiny. So, those Self-knowledge I would start by admitting that You don’t know what you think you know, and from that humility you come to a more solid understanding of justice, virtue, and goodness.
But the most political interpretation of the phrase comes from Thomas Hobbes, in his Leviathan wrote: “He who looks within himself and thinks about what he does when he thinks, thinks, reasons, wishes or fears and on what basis; he will read and get to know the thoughts and passions of all people,” the website emphasizes. Surf pajamas. In other words: “Know yourself and you will know everyone else“.
Of the Applied Psychology Self-knowledge is described as a continuous process of analyzing one’s behavior, the circumstances that surround it, and the beliefs that support it. This reading is consistent with the also classic idea that the “self” is always under construction and requires constant practice Critical introspection.
However, some authors warn about the risks naive or narcissistic interpretation of expression in recent times. According to an article from the University of La Rioja (Spain), an approach that focuses only on subjective introspection can trap the person in their own stories, forgetting that the self is also configured in relation to others and social contexts.
In popular culture, the former Beatle George Harrisonin his song Inner lightin turn leads to knowledge of the universe through self-observation, because it says that only by looking within we can recognize the wide world and the laws of heaven.
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