Study on the emergence of the conception of 'self' as autonomous agent in Presocratics and its historical influence

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24520084
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: History of thought
• Research Institution: Kanazawa University
• Principal Investigator: MIURA Kaname 金沢大学, 人間科学系, 教授 (20222317)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 自己 / 自律性 / ソクラテス以前 / ギリシア哲学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we considered at first the conception of the ‘self’ in Heraclitus in comparison with that at the age of epos. While the mortals depicted in the epos as slaves to the blind necessity cannot be any agents of free will, according to the pre-Socratic philosophers, humans do have such an inner motive of action as volition, desire, intention or deliberation and can decide and choose their course of actions for themselves; in this sense, it may safely be said that the conception of the ‘self’ as an autonomous agent was first and explicitly discovered by the presocratics. And this autonomous agent can be seen not only in an ethical sphere but also in an epistemological one : humans have investigative independence from divine intervention as well as behavioral autonomy.

Free Research Field

哲学