A virtude socrática como fundamento de uma ética do cuidado de si

Abstract

This study aims at understanding how ethics of The Care of the Self by Socrates would instigate men to self-examination. How did The Care of the Self contribute for improvement of the soul. Socrates everlasting search for self-knowledge by men, consequently achieving virtue knowledge science. Psyche (soul) suffered an enormous transformation in comparison with the concepts of the word before Socrates. However, the main change consisted that the soul was the essence of men, with several consequences, such as search for human interior improvement. For Socrates, soul and body were distinct elements, however are part of unity and not something dual. The subject of the destiny of the soul was a platonic discovery, since Socrates did not have a metaphysical conception of the world, such as Platon suggested. Objectively, Socrates did not have interest in knowing what would be the destiny of the soul, since his ethics was centered in the integral man. The ethics of The Care of the Self made the individual capable, improved to face the major challenges in life. This would happen since he would be innerly capable to his self-examination. Hadot and Foucault studied the concept of epiméleia heautoû and in both there is the link of The Care of the Self with the practice of spiritual exercise. Nietzsche critics the Socratic morality and every form of religiosity. However, Hadot deals with the lovely hate of Nietzsche and Socrates. Also, from Nietzsche comes the nihilism, treated in the last chapter, when the traditional values lose their references; life loses meaning; there is no explanation of why? The present study tries to examine how Socratic ethics may be relevant for contemporary society.