- The I-THOU relationship
Martin Buber
Pre-Socratics
*Cosmocentric – the ancient philosophical
approach to the study of man.
- They were concerned not with a part
of the cosmos but with the totality.
-
Classical (Greek Wisdom on Man)
Greek Philisophers Socrates, Plato, and
Aristotle taught that the proper way to solve
the problem of man is to 1st inquire into and
discover the true nature of man.
Socrates
* an artificial convention or habit of
- Concerned with the basic stuff of the
Cosmos – with what constitutes the
universe.
- Man was conceived as a part of
Nature.
- Man was seen as microcosm.
- The search for the truth about man
was simultaneously the search for the
truth about the universe.
-
- Man’s soul pre-existed in his body.
- His original existence as a soul or pure
mind, man knew all things.
- to problem (caused by
ignorance) – recalling all that he
knew.
- – lack of knowledge.
- Knowledge is inborn.
- Virtue – is a natural endowment. Not
action to be acquired by education.
- Virtue may be taught but it is to be
- “Knowledge is Virtue, Ignorance is
vice”.
- Knowledge should not be merely
theoretical or speculative, it should be
PRACTICAL.
- True Knowledge = Wisdom = VIRTUE
- A man does evil because he does not
know any better or his knowledge is
imperfect or inadequate.
Plato (Man in his present earthly
existence)
*Idealism – the idea behind the things that
we see.
Theocentric – Christian Medieval
philosophical approach to the study of
man.
*Christianity
MAN – next to the angels.
- The noblest of God’s creatures.
Created in His image and likeness.
- Man is only an imperfect copy of his
real ORIGINAL self – The Perfect
Man.
- By knowing and constantly recalling
his former self and his ideal
exemplar, by the practice of virtue =
Man can regain his perfection.
- Perfection was lost during man’s
earthly exile and imprisonment in the
body as punishment for sin.
- Christianity in Medieval Europe –
Philosophy became the handmade of
Theology.
- Reason, companion of Faith
- Man was still viewed as part of Nature
- Nature is God’s creation
- Philosophy became the ultimate
causes of things, eventually leading to
the truth about God.
- Man’s ideal was to contemplate God
and His creation.
- Action is to conform to the natural
moral law implanted in his reason.

Aristotle - Man does not only live in society, society

lives in him.
*Political Animal
*Justice and Love
St. Thomas Aquinas - Man is substantially united by the
body and soul.
Martin Heidegger - Life is a recognition of realizing your
existence.